Scale levels of damage to the raceway of a spherical roller bearing

• Studied the parameters of defects occurring in the linkage lever's roller bearing
• False brinelling was quantitatively described.
• Formation of grooves with the bottom having folded relief was investigated.
• The mechanisms of deformation and wear of the bearing were analysed using multi-level approach.

The study determines the parameters of defects generated in a roller bearing used in the link of a mould oscillating mechanism that makes part of a continuous billet-casting machine. The evolution of such defects is described from the perspective of scale levels of deformation and fracture. The studied wear behaviour in the bearing corresponds to false brinelling; the raceways suffer the formation of grooves having the bottom with folded morphology. The mechanisms of deformation and wear of the bearing were analysed using multi-level approach, i.e. at macro-level, from the perspective of the mechanics of a deformable rigid body, at meso-level II, implementing tribological approaches, and at meso-level I, using the methods of indentation, three-dimensional profilometry and fractography.