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Brinelling refers to a material surface failure caused by contact stress that exceeds the material limit. This failure is caused by just one application of a load great enough to exceed the material limit. The result is a permanent dent or "brinell" mark. It is a common cause of roller bearing failures, and loss of preload in bolted joints when a hardened washer is not used. Engineers can use the Brinell hardness of materials in their calculations to avoid this mode of failure. A rolling element bearing's static load rating is defined to avoid this failure type. A similar-looking kind of damage is called false brinelling. This occurs when contacting bodies vibrate against each other in the presence of very small loads. The results is a finely polished surface that resembles a brinell mark but has not permanently deformed either contacting surface.

[edit] See also

• False brinelling

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