Deformation and damage characteristics of ball bearings under blast loading

This paper presents the unique failure characteristics, such as fragmentation, internal cracks, general deformation and pitting, observed on a SS420C ball bearing from direct blast loading using a cylindrical PE-4 explosive. Axisymmetric simulations were performed to gain insights of the failure mechanisms. While additional work is needed to fully understand all characteristic found, valuable findings have been presented to explain some of the failures.