Ultrasonic fatigue testing

Claim 1

A method of fatiguing an antifriction bearing race within a relatively short period of time by substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by the antifriction bearing race comprising the steps of: fixedly mounting the bearing race in a vessel filled with a cooling liquid to a level sufficient to submerge the bearing race, engaging a raceway surface on the bearing race with a rounded tip on a probe disposed substantially on a radial plane of said bearing, applying a normal force to said bearing through said probe, said normal force being of sufficient magnitude to prevent relative motion between said tip and said raceway surface, and simultaneously ultrasonically vibrating said probe in a substantially tangential direction with a second force which when combined with said first force results in forces which do not stress the bearing beyond its elastic limit until said bearing race fails whereby the bearing race be fatigue tested without being incorporated into a bearing assembly.

Claim 2

A method of fatiguing an antifriction bearing race within a relatively short period of time by substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by the antifriction bearing race comprising the steps of: fixedly mounting the bearing race in a vessel filled with a cooling liquid to a level sufficient to submerge the bearing race, engaging a raceway surface on the bearing race with a rounded tip on a probe disposed substantially on a radial plane of said bearing, applying a normal force to said bearing through said probe, said normal force being of sufficient magnitude to prevent relative motion between said tip and said raceway surface, and simultaneously ultrasonically vibrating said probe in a substantially tangential direction with a second force which when combined with said first force results in forces which do not stress the bearing beyond its elastic limit until said bearing race fails whereby the bearing race be fatigue tested without being incorporated into a bearing assembly.

Claim 3

A method of substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by an antifriction bearing race or the like comprising the steps of: providing a probe having smoothly curved engagement surface, loading said probe engagement surface into a test surface on a metallic test specimen in a generally normal direction with a first force and, a vibrating said probe ultrasonically while so loaded in a generally transverse direction producing a second force which when combined with said first force results in a force sufficient to prevent relative motion between the probe engagement surface and the specimen test surface and which does not load the specimen beyond its elastic limit.

Claim 4

A method of substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by an antifriction bearing race or the like comprising the steps of: providing a probe having smoothly curved engagement surface, loading said probe engagement surface into a test surface on a metallic test specimen in a generally normal direction with a first force and, a vibrating said probe ultrasonically while so loaded in a generally transverse direction producing a second force which when combined with said first force results in a force sufficient to prevent relative motion between the probe engagement surface and the specimen test surface and which does not load the specimen beyond its elastic limit.

Claim 5

A method of substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by an antifriction bearing race or the like comprising the steps of: providing a probe having a rounded tip, loading said rounded tip into an arcuate surface on a metallic test specimen with a first force applied in a direction substantially normal to said arcuate surface, and simultaneously vibrating said tip in a suBstantially tangential direction with a second force which when combined with said first force results in forces sufficient to prevent relative motion between said tip and said arcuate surface and which do not stress the specimen beyond its elastic limit.

Claim 6

A method of substantially duplicating the stress cycling experienced by an antifriction bearing race or the like comprising the steps of: providing a probe having a rounded tip, loading said rounded tip into an arcuate surface on a metallic test specimen with a first force applied in a direction substantially normal to said arcuate surface, and simultaneously vibrating said tip in a suBstantially tangential direction with a second force which when combined with said first force results in forces sufficient to prevent relative motion between said tip and said arcuate surface and which do not stress the specimen beyond its elastic limit.