Bearing Failure Analysis Services

Bearing failure – whether reduced performance or shortened service life – has costs far beyond the price of replacing the bearing.  Paying for unexpected maintenance, waiting for repairs and new parts, and delaying fulfillment hurts your business. Alpine’s bearing failure analysis gives you the data you need to avoid costly repairs or delays.

Alpine Bearing can help you understand why bearings fail prematurely, so you can remediate the cause for the future. Our analysis will show whether a bearing failed due to an inherent flaw, installation issue, or problem with the machine housing. Our accurate information will bolster your strategic maintenance decisions.

Alpine offers bearing failure analysis:

  • After a failure. We assess what’s left of your broken bearing to discover the likely cause of the failure. Then we make suggestions to change your lubricant, operating parameters, or bearing selection to prevent future failures.
  • When a failure seems possible. If a bearing unexpectedly underperforms or shows unanticipated signs of wear, Alpine can examine it to determine why.
  • To prevent failure. Alpine’s engineers have extensive experience with application engineering. We can suggest lubricant, environmental, or maintenance changes to extend the life of your bearings.

How Alpine Bearing’s bearing failure analysis works

Bearing failure analysis starts when you send us a bearing and tell us what happened. We customize our level and type of analysis to your needs. Examples of bearing failure analysis we’ve done for customers include:

  • Destructive analysis. After a bearing fails, Alpine Bearing performs an “autopsy”, fully disassembling and even cutting into the bearing to find the source of the failure.
  • Non-destructive fitness analysis. Using vibration testing, microscopic examination, and dimensional inspection, Alpine determines whether a bearing is still in usable condition.
  • Wear analysis for research and development. Companies using bearings in novel applications can work with Alpine to see how the application affects the bearings’ wear and expected service life. For example, Alpine performed wear analysis for a company that had created a space-like environment to test stepper motors for a lunar robot.

To fit your varied needs, we analyze bearings on many levels. We use microscopy, dimensional inspection, surface inspection and analysis, and vibration analysis, to discern why a bearing failed.

Bearing failure analysis equipment

We have access to bearing failure analysis equipment including:

  • Zeiss stereo microscope system with imaging analysis software
  • Miniature bearing noise and vibration analyzer (up to 20mm bore)
  • Large bore bearing noise and vibration analyzer (bores larger than 20mm)
  • Mah-Federal Form Scan 6100 with analysis software
  • Micro torque tester with analysis software
  • Vertical comparators with digital amplifiers with a resolution of one millionth of an inch
  • Taylor Hobson Form Talysurf 50 Profile Analyzer
  • Shimadzu Electronic Balances with 0.1mg readability
  • Pneumatic radial play gaging system with a resolution of twenty millionths of an inch
  • Electronic and analog air gage systems with a resolution of ten millionths of an inch
  • One Model 4TTA Wilson Rockwell Hardness Tester
  • Digital ID and OD gaging with masters and electronic data collection for statistical analysis
  • Full range of standard measuring equipment (SME) including
    • 12” vertical height gages
    • Grade A inspection level granite surface plates
    • Inch & metric grade 2 gage block sets
    • Plug and ring gages
    • Dial indicators
    • Digital micrometers
    • Calipers
  • Environmentally controlled clean room for ultra-precision measurement and calibration

Find the causes of bearing failures

Alpine Bearing’s analysis services can help identify causes of bearing failures including:

  • Brinelling
  • Cage damage
  • Contamination
  • Electric arc erosion
  • False brinelling
  • Fatigue – e.g. raceway spalling or flaking
  • Lubrication failure
  • Misalignment
  • Path patterns
  • Combining the evidence of damage we find with your report of the failure, Alpine Bearing’s experienced engineers make sophisticated estimates of the failure’s root cause.

Gain insight into your bearings from installation to end of life

We won’t rest until we know the source of your bearing failures. We’re happy to help with other aspects of bearing selection and maintenance too. In addition to bearing failure analysis, we also provide application engineering services and quality inspection and verification. Our team of technicians and expert engineers give you access to the highest-quality bearings and the information you need to get the most out of them.
Reach out today for more information about Alpine’s bearing failure analysis.

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