Determination of the equivalent friction coefficient of rolling bearings using the kinetic energy dissipation

Friction characteristics are crucial indicators of the quality of rolling bearings. This study presents an innovative experimental setup for determining the equivalent friction coefficient of rolling bearings based on the kinetic energy dissipation, and a deep groove ball bearing is taken as an example. A series of experiments were performed to investigate the effects of the external load, speed, lubrication condition, diameter, and materials on the equivalent friction coefficient. The results indicate that the equivalent friction coefficient increases with increasing bearing speed, diameter, and lubricant viscosity but slightly decreases with increasing load. In addition, hybrid bearings outperform ceramic bearings and steel bearings in terms of bearing friction. The response surface method reveals that these parameters can be ranked in terms of impact on the equivalent friction coefficient as follows: the bearing diameter has the greatest influence, followed by the angular speed, grease viscosity, and applied load.