TECHNICAL

Grease Lubrication Mechanisms in

Rolling Bearing Systems For Related Articles Search

Piet M. Lugt lubrication

at www.powertransmission.com
Grease lubrication has clear advantages over oil lubrication: Grease does not leak easily;
it has sealing properties; and it protects bearing surfaces from corrosion. Its disadvantages are grease-life limitations
and a limited cooling ability. Moreover, in some applications there is a risk of grease starvation, which leads to reduced
lubricating films. However, if the right grease, sealing system and/or lubrication system are chosen, then grease
lubrication offers clear benefits. This article summarizes aspects of grease lubrication mechanisms in rolling bearings.

Phases in Grease Lubrication development (Ref. 14), which is again During the churning phase the grease
Grease lubrication is a dynamic process caused by occasional film breakdown. may lose some of its consistency. This
that can be divided roughly into three At some point, the reservoirs may be property is called mechanical stability.
phases (Fig. 1). After the initial filling or empty or deteriorated to the point that The viscosity of lubricating grease is
during re-lubrication, the grease will be replenishment can no longer happen. so high at very low shear rates that only
located between the rolling elements, If re-lubrication has not taken place, se- creep-flow will occur, and the grease
leading to high churning losses dur- vere film breakdown will result, called has an apparently solid behavior. Figure
ing start-up or running-in. During this the end of grease life, which subse- 2 shows grease shear thinning, which
phase, also called the “churning phase,” quently leads to bearing damage and is when the grease viscosity decreases
the grease will be pushed into the un- failure. substantially with increasing shear.
swept volume of the bearing (onto the Grease reservoir formation. The At very high shear rates, the grease
seals or onto the bearing ring shoul- rate at which the reservoir formation viscosity may approach the base oil
ders) or will end up attached to the will take place is governed by the flow viscosity. Such high shear rates occur
cage. From these locations the grease properties of the grease, also called its in the lubricating films between rolling
will slowly provide the raceways with “rheological properties.” This will also elements and raceways.
lubricant by either bleeding or shear. In determine the physical degradation of Together with oil bleeding, this is the
this second phase, the bleeding phase, the grease. reason why the film thickness in grease-
the lubricating film will be governed by Lubricating grease shows visco-elas- lubricated bearings is usually calculat-
a feed-and-loss mechanism (Ref. 20) in tic behavior, meaning that the viscosity ed using the base oil viscosity, ηoil. The
which the raceways are fed by grease of the grease is a function of both shear grease rheology can be described using
from the reservoirs but also lose lubri- and shear rate. Figure 2 shows viscosity various models (Fig. 2).
cant due to side flow and oxidation. as a function of shear rate in terms of Film thickness. Both base oil and
This may lead to starvation, especially the various models that are often used. thickener are known to enter the bear-
in sealed bearings where the grease It shows that the viscosity is very high ing (Ref. 2). The lubricating film thick-
reservoirs are smaller. Another feed at low shear rates. This means that the ness in grease-lubricated bearings is
mechanism is occasional replenish- resistance to flow will be very high if determined by boundary layers formed
ment caused by softening of the grease the grease is not touched – i.e., when it by thickener material hR and by the hy-
close to the contacts due to local heat is located in the upswept volume. This drodynamic action of the base oil hEHL
property is also called consistency. (elastohydrodynamic lubrication, EHL)

Figure 1 The phases in grease lubrication of rolling bearings.

Reprinted courtesy of Evolution, a business and technology magazine from SKF.

36 Power Transmission Engineering OCTOBER 2013 WWW.POWERTRANSMISSION.COM ]————

(Ref. 4). For the latter, the base oil can Cross model
also be taken into account for the rea-
sons mentioned above. The film thick-
ness, hT, is therefore:
(1)
hT = hR + hEHL

Grease-lubricated bearings often run

under so-called starved lubrication
conditions where only very thin layers
of oil are available and where the film
thickness is primarily a function of the
thickness of these layers (Fig. 3). The
change in thickness of these layers is
given by the difference between the
feed (bleeding, Refs. 3, 21) and loss flow
Shear rate
rates of lubricant into or out of the race- Figure 2 Schematic representation of the viscosity shear rate curves for lubricating grease on a double-
ways (Ref. 20). The oil in the track is lost logarithmic scale. At very high shear rates, the viscosity ηb approaches the base oil viscosity ηoil.
due to the transverse flow caused by
the high pressure inside the rolling ele-
ment-raceway contacts (Ref. 18); some
replenishment may take place (Ref. 6).
However, except for very low speeds
and low-viscosity base oils, this will be
a very slow process (Ref. 7). Shear and
drag due to ball spin will probably have
a greater effect (Ref. 5). Both ball spin
and the narrower contact sizes make
replenishment easier for ball bearings
than for roller bearings. This is one of
the reasons why roller bearings require
grease with more bleeding than ball
bearings (Ref. 11). At higher tempera-
tures, oxidation and evaporation will
have an impact on film thickness. Ma-
terial will be lost due to oxidation and
evaporation (Refs. 19, 15); however, this
will also change the viscosity and lu-
bricity.
Dynamic behavior. Starved lubrica-
tion will cause a decrease in film thick-
ness that will proceed until the bearing
is no longer well lubricated. Metal-to-
metal contact will cause bearing dam-
age or may cause enough heat develop-
ment to occur to reduce the viscosity
of the lubricant close to the contact for
replenishment — leading to an event.
In the latter case, the film thickness will
increase again, resulting in sufficient
lubrication until the next event takes
place. This may occur a number of
times, depending on the healing ability
of the grease, which is a function of the
ability of the grease to maintain its flu-
idity. Figure 4 shows an example of the
temperature profile of a cylindrical roll-
er bearing running under self-induced Figure 3 Schematic representation of film thickness and pressure in a fully
temperature (Ref. 14). flooded and starved HL contact (Ref. 17). The film thickness is reduced
due to a lack of lubricant in the inlet side of the contact.

OCTOBER 2013 Power Transmission Engineering 37

 TECHNICAL

tor). Correction factors can be applied

for the impact of load. Models for other
bearing types are based on this model
where other correction factors are ap-
plied, and can be found in the SKF roll-
ing bearings catalog (Ref. 1).
Aging. Both the mechanical and
chemical properties of the grease will
change while the grease is exposed to
milling and oxidation in the bearing.
The type of oxidation depends on the
operating conditions: Physical aging
dominates at lower temperatures and
higher speeds, whereas chemical aging
dominates at high temperatures (Ref.
9). Physical aging results in a change
to the grease’s rheological proper-
ties, which results in leakage, reduced
bleeding properties and a reduction
in its ability to replenish the contacts.
Chemical aging is primarily caused
by oxidation. Anti-oxidants retard this
Figure 4 Temperature measurements from grease-lubricated, cylindrical rolling bearings (Ref. 14). process, but when these are consumed,
oxidation leads to a loss of lubricant due
Grease life and re-lubrication. grease life halves with every 15°C tem- to a reaction into volatile products and
Grease life is defined by the point in perature increase. to lacquer formation, which no longer
time where the grease can no longer Grease life models. Various models lubricates the bearing (Ref. 9).
lubricate the bearing. This time span exist that can be used to predict grease Grease lubrication mechanisms in
may be very long and therefore difficult life (or re-lubrication intervals). All seals. The main differences between
to measure in a bearing test rig. To ac- models are empirical, based on grease grease and oil for seal lubrication are
celerate such a test, the outer ring of the life tests. Grease life is defined as the L10 related to starvation (replenishment
test bearing is heated, which acceler- life: the time at which 10 percent of a of the seal lip) and boundary film for-
ates the aging process and reduces the large population of bearings has failed. mation by the thickener material. Re-
viscosity of the grease. An example of Re-lubrication should be carried out plenishment of the contact is caused by
such a test rig is the R0F+ grease life tes- before the end of grease life so that no shear and oil bleeding from the grease.
ter (Ref. 13). damage to the bearing has taken place. The sealing action of grease is ascribed
Safe operation. Lubricating greases The SKF re-lubrication model is based to its stiffness, meaning that the grease
are developed to operate in a limited on L01, assuming L10 = 2.7 L01, which is will not easily flow away from the seal-
temperature window. The maximum the time where only 1 percent failure ing contact. In addition, the grease
temperature, called “high-temperature would take place. Re-lubrication is not will form pockets in multiple-lip seals
limit (HTL),” is determined from the a straightforward process; too much where the flow of contaminant particles
dropping point when the grease loses grease will keep
its structure irreversibly. This tempera- the bearing in the
ture may not be exceeded at any time. churning phase,
The safe maximum temperature is low- with high frictional
er, or called “high-temperature perfor- losses and high tem-
mance limit (HTPL).” peratures. Figure
The low-temperature limit (LTL) 5 shows the grease
is determined by the temperature at life for lightly load-
which the grease will enable the bear- ed, capped deep-
ing to start up without difficulty; it is groove ball bear-
usually measured by a start-up torque ings as a function
test. The safe minimum temperature of rotational speed,
therefore is higher, called “low temper- mean bearing di-
ature performance limit (LTPL)” (Ref. ameter, operating
1). In the zone between these safe tem- temperature and Figure 5 Grease life in lubricated-for-life, standard radial deep groove ball
bearings operating at light loads (C/P 15); L10 as a function of n ×
peratures, the grease life is a function of grease type (grease dm, temperature, and grease type (Ref. 8). The grease performance
temperature, where, as a rule of thumb, performance fac- factor is a measure for the quality of the lubricating grease and is
determined using R0F+ test method.

38 Power Transmission Engineering OCTOBER 2013 WWW.POWERTRANSMISSION.COM ]————

 Life — a New Approach and Method by
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Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West
by means of lubrication systems. These Selecting the right grease is compli- Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom, First
systems consist of pumps, pipes, valves, cated. Understanding the lubrication Edition, 2013.
distributors and controllers. There can mechanisms will help in selecting the 13. Lugt, P.M., A. Van den Kommer, H. Lindgren
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OCTOBER 2013 Power Transmission Engineering 39