Reason for fatigue peeling off of thrust ball bearings used in hydraulic pumps

A certain hydraulic pump thrust ball bearing experienced fatigue peeling phenomenon. The cause of bearing peeling was analyzed by macroscopic observation, chemical composition analysis, metallographic examination, hardness testing and indentation depth measurement. The results show that the reason for fatigue peeling of the bearing was that the deformation of the imprinted part of the cage pocket was large, the steel ball was excessively constrained, and the movement interference between the steel ball and the cage ultimately led to fatigue peeling of the bearing. The use of self locking cages made of polyether ether ketone materials instead of copper solid cages could effectively improve the problem of fatigue peeling in thrust ball bearings.