Flexible and sustainable production of high performance rolling bearings

Purpose and goal

The project aims to increase the production flexibility for the manufacturing of large sized bearings by reducing the number of process steps and improving the properties of the components by using a novel hard turning (HaT) strategy. This will be realised by develop and potentially develop a methodology to qualify the hard-turning process as a finishing process. This strategy will generate a unique high-strength metallic surface, which will improve the surface mechanical properties hence the life of the bearings.

Expected effects and result

The project aims to improve the manufacturing of bearings which will both enable prolonged life of the bearings as such but also allows for reducing the manufacturing leadtime, the energy consumption and enable mass customization enabled by the HaT process.

Planned approach and implementation

TURN2FLEX will be operating in three major phases; Phase 1 involves carrying out the machining tests at Sumitomo in Germany to set the machining conditions. In Phase 2, the tests performed in Phase 1 will be validated at the research centre at SKF. In Phase 3, the machining tests will be carried out in a machining centre resembling similar condition as the production to evaluate the process robustness. All the characterization of the produced parts will be performed by Chalmers and RISE. The mechanical tests will support to reach the set goal with respect to surface integrity properties.