Performance and failure modes of grease lubricated hybrid ceramic bearing in high speed and high temperature condition

Ceramic rolling element bearings have promising applications in extreme operating conditions such as high speed, high temperature, and heavy load. In this study, a hybrid silicon nitride ceramic ball bearing lubricated with high temperature grease is presented. The structure and parameters of the bearing are specially designed to satisfy the requirement of grease lubrication, high temperature and high speed conditions. A test rig was developed for the experiments of ceramic bearing performance. The experimental results show that grease lubricated ceramic bearings with fine design have excellent high speed and high temperature performance. By analyzing the operation performance and failure bearing inspection, the failure modes of grease lubricated ceramic bearings is analyzed. Thermal instability caused by the grease insufficient supply is the main factor of failure.