Fatigue Life of High-Carbon Chromium Ball Bearing Steel Produced by Electric Furnace—Vacuum Slag Cleaner—Ladle Furnace—RH Degassing—Curved Continuous Caster Available to Purchase

Rolling contact fatigue life of continuous-cast ball-bearing steel was 1.5 to 2 times as long as that of conventional ingot-cast one. Continuous-cast ball-bearing steel, when made by a double ladle furnace process with lower contents of oxygen, lower residuals (sulfur, phosphorus, and titanium), and lower number of finely scattered inclusions, showed fatigue life over six times as long as that of conventional ingot-cast ball bearing steel. Studies have been conducted to determine the effect of residuals and inclusions on fatigue life. The reason of longer fatigue life is thought to be due mainly to a lower content of finely scattered oxide inclusions.