Tribology - Materials, Surfaces & Interfaces

ISSN: 1751-5831 (Print) 1751-584X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ytrb20

Tribological properties of brass materials and their

application for cages in rolling bearings

S. Laumann, R. Jisa, G. Deinhofer & F. Franek

To cite this article: S. Laumann, R. Jisa, G. Deinhofer & F. Franek (2014) Tribological properties
of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings, Tribology - Materials, Surfaces
& Interfaces, 8:1, 35-40, DOI: 10.1179/1751584X13Y.0000000052

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1179/1751584X13Y.0000000052

Published online: 19 Dec 2013.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 264

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Citing articles: 1 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ytrb20
Tribological properties of brass materials and
their application for cages in rolling bearings
S. Laumann*1, R. Jisa1, G. Deinhofer2 and F. Franek1,3
The continuously growing demands on standard components of machine elements with respect
to power density, efficiency and durability while operating can reach the borders of load bearing
capacity and lead to premature failure. Especially in engineering applications with insufficiently
predictable operating conditions, bearings can usually meet these requirements. Possible
correctives are the use of new materials with modified properties or changes in the design. In the
railway industry, particularly high impact loads on bearing cages can occur. Brass cages are
primarily used here. Thus, new brass alloys are applied whose properties have been improved in
terms of their mechanical and tribological behaviour. Various brass alloys have been selected on
the basis of the mechanical properties and cost aspects. Using a modified test rig for precision
bearings, these alloys have been studied with respect to the tribological properties, which are
correlated with the results of tests with brass rolling bearing cages. This gives the possibility to
choose optimised brass materials for bearing cage application under increased requirements.
Keywords: Rolling bearings, Brass, Abrasive wear

This paper is part of a special issue on the 3rd International Tribology Symposium of IFToMM: Part I

Introduction for the majority of rolling bearing applications. The lead

The ongoing optimisation of the performance of various
technical applications towards increased power density
and higher efficiency continuously increases the require-
ments of the used mechanical components such as cages
of roller bearings. Especially under critical or impre-
cisely predictable operating conditions, it is important to
provide materials with increased strength and wear
resistance at consistent toughness level.
In railway applications with high shock loads and
marginal lubrication conditions at slow speeds, the use
of brass cages is preferred due to the long term
experience with this robust and proven cage material.
New brass alloys exhibit better mechanical properties
as well as improved friction behaviour between cage
and rolling elements or bearing rings at those harsh
operating conditions.
Brass materials for roller bearing cages
For this investigation, brass alloys with different
mechanical properties have been selected. The stan-
dard material for purpose of comparison is the alloy
CuZn40Pb2 – A1F (Fig. 1). This is the main brass
material type having been used for cages over decades.
Under non-critical conditions, the behaviour of this
material is satisfactory and has been stated to be suitable
1
AC2T research GmbH, Viktor-Kaplan-Strabe 2, 2700 Wr. Neustadt,
Austria
2
SKF Österreich AG, Seitenstettner Strasse 15, 4400 Steyr, Austria
3
Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems, Vienna University of
Technology, Floragasse 7, 1040 Vienna, Austria
*Corresponding author, email laumann@ac2t.at
content in this brass alloy evidences a positive effect on
the machinability of the material. In the industry, more
and more efforts are being made on using lead reduced
materials. A major contributing factor is the European
Directive 2011/37/EC on end of life vehicles. The usage
of lead has to be restricted in the future. The current
upper limit for lead in copper alloys is 4 wt-% lead and
this exemption shall be reviewed in 2015.1
For this investigation, another two brass materials
with a lead content lower than 0?2% and higher level
of hardness and tensile strength have been selected.
The main difference between these cast brass alloys is
the chemical composition with variation of the elements
lead, zinc, aluminium, iron and manganese.2
Abrasive wear in bearings
Solid debris particles entrained by the lubricant can
be introduced into the tribocontacts of ball bearings,
thus being capable of damaging the bearing surfaces.
Furthermore, this can lead to rolling contact fatigue
failure or material loss by three body abrasion.3 Lu-
bricant borne particles can enter into rolling and sliding
contacts as several studies have shown,4,5 and it has
been revealed that the contact may act to concentrate
particulates.6
In general, a rolling element bearings design is
supposed to work in the elastohydrodynamic regime.
Between the elements and the raceways, there is a film
of lubricating oil with a typical thickness of less than a
micron. A lot of debris found in the lubricant have
a comparatively large particle size, and thus can cause
some form of surface damage. In particular, the size,

ß 2014 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd

Received 19 June 2013; accepted 5 October 2013
DOI 10.1179/1751584X13Y.0000000052 Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1 35
Laumann et al. Tribological properties of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings
1 Depiction of selected mechanical properties of brass
materials for ball bearing cages (Rmref stands for ten-
sile strength and eref for elongation at fracture of com-
monly used brass material for cages with high ductility
A1F): C1F and D1F are selected brass materials with
increased tensile strength
shape and materials of the debris particles influence the
extent of damage.7
This aspect as a common cause of premature failure
has been investigated in rolling bearings used in con-
taminated environments.8–10 Even though filtration is
important in removing these large particles and obtain-
ing longer lives, especially in fine filtration systems,
lubrication systems, however, also contain many
small particles, with impractical or even impossible
removability.11,12
These observations can be tribologically transferred to
the relationship between rolling elements and cage, since
a similar contact situation is given (Fig. 2).
Tribometrical investigations
Experimental set-up
The tribometrical investigations have been carried out
on a modified test rig for (sintered) precision bearings
(also referred as SLPG13). In this set-up, a cylindrical
pin of 100Cr6 steel rotates with its cylindrical surface on
a plane polished plate shaped specimen under constant
supply of lubricant (Figs. 3 and 4). The specimens are
2 Schematic (cross-section) of relevant contact situation
between balls and cage in ball bearing: cages are
mechanically stressed by frictional forces leading to
pocket wear in loaded zone (cf. arrows) to be studied
by laboratory tests
36 Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1
3 Modified test rig for precision bearings: steel shaft
rotates on plane polished brass plate instead in bear-
ing; constant oil dropping supply is provided from top
mounted on splash cover; contact situation is depicted
in detail in Fig. 4
brass alloys, which differ in chemical composition and
grain structure as well as in material properties, such as
hardness, tensile strength, and yield strength. A mineral
base oil SN 150 was used as lubricant. The tests were
carried out with a normal load of 30 N and a constant
rotational speed of 250 min21; thus, the tribological
system is in the mixed friction regime at the beginning
(non-conformal line contact). These parameters were
determined from the Stribeck curves of prior studies.
Friction coefficient and temperature development have
been recorded over the whole test period of 2 h. The
wear volume was measured optically using confocal
microscopy.
Results
The coefficients of friction of the three different brass
alloys are plotted in Fig. 5. After a run-in period of
approximately 10 min, the coefficient of friction signifi-
cantly decreases (,0?03) due to achievement of a certain
conformity between steel pin and brass-plate, which leads
to the formation of a sustainable lubricant film, i.e. the
system moves from the mixed friction regime to the
hydrodynamic regime. Simultaneously, it develops fric-
tion coefficient fluctuations. These friction coefficient
peaks in the three brass alloys are pronounced to varying
degrees in terms of their number and height. In sample
A1F, their appearance is manifested most frequently
comparing all three brass alloys. They occur more often
4 Contact situation of steel shaft on brass specimen,
which is clamped on both ends of sample to gimbal
mounting
 Laumann et al. Tribological properties of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings

5 Friction coefficient behaviours of three brass alloys (typical graphs)

at the beginning of the test (y8 times per minute) than at
the end of the test (,2 times per minute). The duration of
the peaks increases from y5 s (beginning of the test) in
average to .8 s (end of the test).
C1F shows a few consistent peaks and for sample
D1F, such peaks hardly tend to appear.
The friction coefficient fluctuations can be attributed
to the rise of wear particles in the lubricating film. The
trough shape along the wear track (Fig. 6) is a strong
indication that the attainment of the conformity is
interrupted by wear particles getting entrained in the
wear scar. While at the edges of the plate, the particles
can leave the contact zone, in the middle, the particles
are trapped until they have been removed by three body
abrasions.
Another indication of this wear model is the micro-
scopy picture for the cross-section of the wear scar on
brass alloy A1F (Fig. 7). The picture shows an az
b-phase mixed microstructure. The bright phase is the
softer a-phase and the dark phase is the harder b-phase.
Aside from the wear track (left side from the mark), both
phases appear intact; in the wear scar, one can clearly see
that that the a-phase is smeared over the b-phase.
Whereas the wear particles can be detected only
indirectly, there are directly visible particles in the
reference alloy CuZn37 (Fig. 8). It was observed that
particles too large to fit in the lubricant gap accumulate
at the leading edge. This means that there is material
transfer from the trailing edge at the right side of the
wear on the brass plate, as particles got stick on the
shaft. These particles are stripped then to the leading
edge at the left side. For the softer annealed CuZn37, the
particles are not observed; however, the trajectories
from the wear debris in the oil are still visible.
The rubbing and the associated breaking of the
carrying lubricating film have a considerable proportion
of the applied frictional energy. Figure 9 shows this on
the basis of the integral applied over time of the graph
of Fig. 5. One can clearly see that the three curves
differ only insignificantly from each other during the
run-in phase. However, after the first few minutes, when
Table 1 Wear volume and resulting roughness (selected
parameters14) in wear track
Sample Wear volume/mm3 Rz/mm Rq/mm
A1F 8.696106 1.28 0.43
C1F 5.546106 0.29 0.05
D1F 4.566106 0.49 0.06
the coefficient of friction peaks become dominant, the
curves diverge.
This is also reflected in the wear behaviour. The brass
alloy A1F has the highest rate of wear, which also has
the largest roughness in the wear scar. In contrast, for
sample C1F, both the amount of wear and the rough-
ness are much less and for D1F, the wear volume is the
lowest. The results of the wear and roughness measure-
ments are summarised in Table 1, showing significant
differences between A1F and C1F/D1F, especially in the
appearance of the wear zone.
Bearing tests
Experimental set-up
To investigate the correlation between laboratory data
and bearing applications, an especially adapted bearing
test was developed. Bearing pairs were tested in a
specific arrangement with high speed and low load for
critical testing conditions. Owing to this arrangement,
the kinematics leads to vibration movements of the balls
and increased forces between balls and cage pockets.
This test set-up results in sliding wear and shock loads,
which cause repeatable fractures of the cage within a
period of few days to weeks.
Results
The bearing tests were carried out using the same three
brass materials as mentioned before. The main differ-
ence between these alloys is the chemical composition,
which affects the mechanical properties.
The standard brass cage material (A1F) failed after 3–
4 days. Parts of the cage were broken out. The two

Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1 37

Laumann et al. Tribological properties of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings

6 Confocal image of surface from plane polished sample for determination of wear volume and profile of depth develop-
ment of wear scar

alternative alloys performed much better. The high strength and good ductility (D1F) performed best. With
strength material with less ductility (C1F) withstands this variant, the testing rig was stopped after 28 days
the harsh testing conditions for 14 days before the cage without a significant negative influence on the cage
fails. The other cage brass material with increased (Fig. 10).

7 Microscopic picture of cross-section of edge of wear scar A1F: sliding direction of roller goes to right; marker indi-
cates brink of wear track

38 Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1

 Laumann et al. Tribological properties of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings
8 Wear scar of CuZn37: on left of it at leading edge,
accumulation of wear particles can be observed
(marking)
9 Cumulated frictional energy (integral of friction curve
of Fig. 5) applied on investigated samples over opera-
tional time
Conclusion and outlook
Brass cages exist for a very long time now. For
applications such as bearings in rail vehicles, brass
alloys are robust and proven cage materials. Such cages
work over broad running conditions and have been
validated over decades. At harsher conditions, due to
marginal lubrication, shock loads and/or contamination
of lubricants, it is important to provide materials with
increased strength and wear resistance at consistent
toughness level. In addition to this material property,
improvement of the tribological behaviour is very
important to reduce wear and friction.
To select a high performance brass alloy for future
cage applications, in addition to the determination of
basic mechanical properties of brass, different tribotests,
model tests and component tests, have been performed.
The tribological properties were investigated on a
modified sintered porous bearing testing device. To
demonstrate the correlation between laboratory data
and bearing applications, an especially adapted bearing
test was developed. Based on those results, a new
suitable brass alloy could be chosen with optimal
10 Running time of bearing test (time to failure
#14 days) with different cage materials (A1F and C1F:
fracture of cage; D1F: cage without fracture)
tribological and mechanical properties for high demand-
ing bearing applications.
Concerning wear behaviour, it can be concluded
that particle abrasion in a lubrication film has notable
influence. With the use of oil additives, however, it is
expected that a reduction of the abrasive wear particles
in the lubrication film can be achieved. Although
measurement results on the use of such additives
are still lacking, in any case, the significance of wear
particles in the lubricant film, with regard to the life-
time of the bearing cages and hence the bearings, is
considerable.
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Austrian COMET
Programme (Project K2 XTribology, no. 824187) and
carried out at the Excellence Centre of Tribology,
Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
References
1. ‘COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2011/37/EU of 30 March 2011,
Amending Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles’, EC,
Brussels, Belgium, 2011.
2. G. Preisinger and H. Neumayer: ‘Brass materials and their
application for cages in rolling bearings’, Proc. ÖTG Symp. 2011,
Wiener Neustadt, Austria, November 2011, Österreichische
Tribologische Gesellschaft, 16–18.
3. R. S. Dwyer-Joyce: ‘Predicting the abrasive wear of ball bearings
by lubricant debris’, Wear, 1999, 233–235, 692–701.
4. R. S. Dwyer-Joyce: ‘The effects of lubricant contamination on
rolling bearing performance’, PhD thesis, University of London,
London, UK, 1993.
5. H. E. Sliney: ‘Dynamics of solid lubrication as observed by optical
microscopy’, Trans. ASLE, 1978, 21, 109–117.
6. R. S. Dwyer-Joyce and J. Heymer: ‘The entrainment of solid
particles into rolling elastohydrodynamic contacts’, Tribol. Ser.,
1996, 31, 135–140.
7. R. S. Dwyer-Joyce, J. C. Hamer, R. S. Sayles and E. Ioannides:
‘Surface damage effects caused by debris in rolling bearing
lubricants with a particular emphasis on friable debris materials’,
in ‘Rolling element bearings – towards the 21st century’,
Mechanical Engineering Publications for the IMechE, 1–8; 1990,
London, IMechE.
8. E. Beghini, R. S. Dwyer-Joyce, E. Ioannides, B. O. Jacobson, A. A.
Lubrecht and J. H. Tripp: ‘Elastic/plastic contact and endurance
life prediction’, J. Phys. D, 1992, 25D, 379–383.
Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1 39
Laumann et al. Tribological properties of brass materials and their application for cages in rolling bearings
9. T. E. Tallian: ‘Prediction of rolling contact fatigue life in
contaminated lubricant: Part I. Mathematical model’, Trans.
ASME, J. Lubr. Technol., 1976, 98, 251–257.
10. M. N. Webster, E. Ioannides and R. S. Sayles: ‘The effects of
topographical defects on the contact stress and fatigue life in rolling
element bearings’, Proc. 12th Leeds–Lyon Symp. on ‘Tribology’,
Lyon, France, September 1985, Institut National des Sciences
Appliquées, 121–131.
11. R. S. Sayles and P. B. Macpherson: ‘The influence of wear debris
on rolling contact fatigue’, ASTM STP 771, ASTM International,
West Conshohocken, PA, USA, 1982, 255–275.
40 Tribology 2014 VOL 8 NO 1
12. S. H. Loewenthal, D. W. Moyer and W. M. Needelman: ‘Effects of
ultraclean and centrifugal filtration on rolling element bearing life’,
Trans. ASME, J. Lubr. Technol., 1998, 104, 283–292.
13. ‘Tribotechnique – Testing of friction and wear – SLPG-tester for
testing of (precision engineering) plain bearings’, ÖNORM M
8124:2009, Osterreichisches Normungsinstitut, Wien, Austria, 2009.
14. ‘Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) – surface texture:
profile method – terms, definitions and surface texture parameters,
ISO 4287:1997zCor 1:1998zCor 2:2005zAmd 1:2009; German
version, EN ISO 4287:1998zAC:2008zA1:2009, ISO, Geneva,
Switzerland, 2010.