Skidding Modes and Mechanisms in Ball Bearings In angular contact ball bearings, the motion of balls within raceways involves differential sliding, spin sliding, and gyroscopic sliding .
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Under high-speed conditions, centrifugal forces and gyroscopic moments significantly alter ball dynamics, leading to four distinct skidding modes:
Skidding Mode
Physical Mechanism
Directional Feature
Key Influencing Factors
1) Gyroscopic Sliding
Gyroscopic moment exceeds friction torque, causing ball sliding along the major axis.
Perpendicular to rolling direction
Speed, contact angle, lubrication
2) Drag Sliding
Reduced ball-inner race contact load under centrifugal force triggers axial slippage.
Along minor axis of contact ellipse
Centrifugal force, preload, viscosity
3) Rolling Sliding
Increased spin/gyroscopic components reduce orbital speed.
Coupled rolling-spin motion
Dynamic drag coefficient, load variation
4) Transient Sliding
Sudden load shifts or cage collisions induce momentary slippage.
Multidirectional
Impact loads, acceleration, cage clearance
Thermal-Mechanical Coupling: Skidding generates shear-induced temperature rise in oil films, reducing viscosity and film thickness. This may lead to metal-to-metal contact, raceway scoring, premature wear, and even system seizure.