The use of acoustic emission for bearing condition monitoring

This paper reports research currently in progress at Swansea University in collaboration with SKF Engineering & Research Centre as part of a continuing investigation into high frequency Acoustic Emission. The primary concerns are experimentally producing subsurface cracks, the type of which would occur in a service failure of a ball bearing, within a steel ball and to closely monitor the properties of this AE from crack initiation to the formation of a ball on the ball surface. It is worth noting that there is evidence that the frequency content of the AE changes during this period, although this has yet to be proved consistent or even fully explained. Conclusive evidence could lead to a system which detects such cracks in a bearing operating in real life conditions, advantageous for many reasons including safety, downtime and maintenance and associated costs. The results from two experimental procedures are presented, one of which loads a single ball held stationary in a test rig to induce subsurface cracks, which are in turn detected by a pair of broadband AE sensors and recorded via a Labview based software system. This approach not only allows detailed analysis of the AE waveforms but also approximate AE source location from the time difference between two sensors. The second experimental procedure details an adaptation of a four-ball lubricant tester in an attempt to produce naturally occurring subsurface cracks from rolling contact whilst minimising the AE arising from surface wear. This thought behind this experiment is reinforced with 3D computational modelling of the rotating system.