What causes the bearing cage to break?

The cage/retainer in the rolling bearing plays the role of equidistance separating the rolling elements and preventing the rolling elements from falling, guiding and driving the rolling elements to rotate.
Although the bearing is composed of many bearing parts, the first damaged/failed part of the bearing is often the bearing cage. The cage can be said to be the bearing "blood vessel", because it can evenly distribute the inner ring, the outer ring and the rolling element. The failure or damage of bearing cage will easily shorten the life of the bearing or even damage it. What causes the bearing cage to break?

◐◑ Insufficient bearing lubrication
Lubricating oil or grease is dry without adding in time / daily maintenance, or use the wrong label of the oil or grease.
◐◑ Bearing impact load
The intense vibrations in the impact load create an impact of the rolling elements on the cage.
◐◑ Bearing cleanliness
The bearing is not well sealed in the bearing box, and then dust may enter; the friction between the rolling element and the cage may be added, thus causing damage to the cage.
◐◑ Installation problem
The bearings are not installed correctly and damage the cage during installation.
◐◑ Bearing creep
Creep mostly refers to the sliding phenomenon of the ring. Under the condition of insufficient interference of the matching surface, the load point moves in the surrounding direction due to sliding, resulting in the deviation of the ring from position of the shaft or the outer casing towards the circumference direction.
Improper installation, the inclination, and too large interference will easily cause clearance reduction, increasing friction heat production, surface softening, and the abnormal peeling occurs prematurely. As peeling spreads, the foreign matter is peeled off into the pocket of the cage, resulting in the blockage of cage operation; the generation of additional loads increased the wear of the cage, and such a deteriorating cycle can cause the cage to break.
◐◑ Bearing cage material defect
Cracks, metal inclusions, shrinkage cavities, air bubbles and riveting defects, nails, padding, severe riveting, etc. may cause the cage to break.
◐◑ Intrusion of hard foreign objects
The intrusion of foreign hard foreign objects or other foreign matter increase the wear of bearing cage.
Bearing cage performance varies with cage materials and molding technology, ZYS can supply all types of bearing cage to meet the requirements of different applications. Besides the textile laminated phenolic resin, porous polyamide and PTFE engineering plastic, and other plastic cage materials, we can also supply finished cages according to the drawings provided by customers. For more information, please send email to zysdong@gmail.com or visit our website www.zysbearing.com.