Relative contact width evaluation of end hemispherical cavities rollers as an indication of Hertzian contact pressure

In a recent investigation, the end hemispherical cavities (EHC) rollers exhibited better strength against fracture than hollow rollers. Furthermore, EHC rollers looked promising from a higher fatigue life aspect than conventional solid rollers in a simulation study. Therefore, it necessitated further exploration of the EHC roller concept and to this end, in the present investigation, the contact widths of EHC rollers were relatively evaluated to judge its contact stresses' behavior with respect to the solid roller because the contact stresses are responsible for the fatigue life of rolling bearings. In the experiments, the contact footprints were obtained by forcing specimens of rollers against chemically etched surfaces and were examined by a microscope for measurement of contact widths. The experimental trials were performed with individual roller-on-plate tests and also with full-bearing samples. The etch correction factor was used to correct anomalies of real and observed contact widths due to etching film thickness. The parabolic relationships were established for roller variants which yielded constants signifying their relative ranks. The contact semi-widths, thus derived from corrected experimental results of individual roller-on-plate tests, demonstrated good agreement (<5%) with those derived from simulation results. The results of full-bearing sample tests for roller variants also ranked same as individual roller-on-plate tests. The encouraging results of contact semi-width assuredly favor the prospects of relatively higher fatigue life in case of EHC rollers.