Research on the Influence of Raceway Waviness and Groove Shape on the Vibration Performance of Angular-Contact Ball Bearings

Raceway topography and lubrication jointly govern rolling-contact conditions and vibration transmission in angular-contact ball bearings. This study examined associations between eight inner- and outer-raceway descriptors—roundness, waviness, groove-profile deviation, and roughness—and four vibration responses of thirty production 7208 bearings from one batch. All bearings were tested as received with factory grease at 1800 r min−1 and a radial load of 150 N. The responses comprised vibration-acceleration levels and vibration velocities in the 50–300, 300–1800, and 1800–10,000 Hz bands. Four grey relational schemes—initial-value-normalized, mean-value-normalized, relative, and absolute—were applied. A descriptor was retained when it ranked among the top three under at least two schemes. Inner-raceway roundness was retained for all four responses, while inner-raceway waviness was retained for acceleration and the low- and medium-frequency velocity responses. Inner-raceway roughness, outer-raceway groove-profile deviation, and outer-raceway roughness were each retained for two responses, whereas the remaining descriptors showed response-specific associations. Rankings varied with preprocessing and relational-degree formulation. The findings provide screening evidence for prioritizing raceway metrology and subsequent controlled experiments.