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A roller bearing that provides ball and roller bearing elements comprised of M50 steel and M50NiL steel having surface hardnesses above 60 HRC, and in the range of 65-72 HRC. The hardness in the surface region is achieved by nitriding the surface to achieve a high hardness and extended life. This im

A roller bearing that provides ball and roller bearing elements comprised of M50 steel and M50NiL steel having surface hardnesses above 60 HRC, and in the range of 65-72 HRC. The hardness in the surface region is achieved by nitriding the surface to achieve a high hardness and extended life. This improvement is brought about by controlling the microstructure of the alloy by minimizing the formation of retained austenite. The material is tempered as required. The surface is then nitrided, but the nitriding operation is carefully controlled to avoid the formation of intergranular nitrides. Because of the method used to prevent the formation of intergranular nitrides, some carbon may be present to prevent the surface of the steel from becoming depleted of carbon. The hardening element in this nitro-carburizing operation is nitrogen, which forms iron nitride as Fe3N or Fe4N intragranularly. The purpose of the carbon in the operation is to maintain the concentration of carbon in the surface of the bearing so that the properties are not altered by decarburizing the surface. Standard gaseous and plasma nitriding techniques also may be used for the nitriding operation.

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1. A bearing material comprising:a martensitic steel having a surface region with a hardness in the range of about 64-72 HRC, the surface region being case-hardened to a case depth of 0.002″ to about 0.014″, the surface region having a nitrogen content of up to about 2.35% by weight; the surface reg

1. A bearing material comprising:a martensitic steel having a surface region with a hardness in the range of about 64-72 HRC, the surface region being case-hardened to a case depth of 0.002″ to about 0.014″, the surface region having a nitrogen content of up to about 2.35% by weight; the surface region characterized by the formation of intragranular iron nitride particles and a substantial absence of an intergranular white phase, and the martensitic steel characterized by a substantial absence of retained austenite. 2. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the martensitic steel is M50 comprising, in weight percent, about 0.80-0.85% carbon, about 4.00-4.25% chromium, about 4.00-4.50% molybdenum, about 0.15-0.35% manganese, about 0.10-0.25% silicon, about 0.9-1.10% vanadium, 0.015% max. phosphorus, 0.010% max. sulfur, 0.15 max. nickel, 0.25% max. cobalt, 0.25% max. tungsten, 0.10 max. copper and the balance essentially iron and incidental impurities.3. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the martensitic steel is M50NiL comprising, in weight percent, about 0.11-0.15% carbon, about 4.00-4.25% chromium, about 4.00-4.50% molybdenum, about 0.15-0.35% manganese, about 0.10-0.25% silicon, about 3.20-3.60% nickel, about 1.13-1.33% vanadium, 0.015% max. phosphorus, 0.010% max. sulfur, 0.25% max cobalt, 0.25% max. tungsten, 0.10 max. copper and the balance essentially iron and incidental impurities.4. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the intergranular white phase comprises a precipitate selected from the group consisting of gamma prime, ε-nitride and combinations thereof.5. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the case-hardened surface region has a hardness in the range of 66-70 HRC.6. The bearing material of claim 5 wherein the steel below the case-hardened surface region has a hardness of no greater than 59 HRC.7. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the case-hardened surface region has a nitrogen content of no greater than about 2% by weight.8. The bearing material of claim 7 wherein the case-hardened surface region has a nitrogen content of up to about 1.8% by weight.9. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the surface region is case-hardened to a case depth of about 0.006″ to about 0.014″.10. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the surface region of the bearing has a case depth of about 0.004″ to about 0.012″.11. The bearing material of claim 1 wherein the wherein the material is used as at least one bearing element selected from the group consisting of an inner race, an outer race and roller elements.12. A method of manufacturing a bearing element from a martensitic steel, the bearing element characterized by a surface region with a hardness in the range of about 64-72 HRC, the surface region being case-hardened to a preselected depth, the surface region characterized by the formation of intragranular iron nitride particles and a substantial absence of an intergranular white phase, comprising the steps of:providing a martensitic steel composition; treating the martensitic steel composition to provide a microstructure substantially free of retained austenite; then nitriding the martensitic steel composition in a partial pressure of nitrogen at a temperature in the range of 800-1000° F. for a preselected time to achieve a hardness in the range of 64-72 HRC to a preselected depth while obtaining a nitrogen content of up to about 2.35% by weight within the preselected depth. 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of treating the martensitic steel composition to provide a microstructure substantially free of retained austenite further includes the additional steps of:heating the martensitic steel composition to a temperature sufficient to form a structure completely of austenite; rapidly quenching the austenite in a quench medium so as to avoid the nose of the TTT curve, thereby completely transforming the austenite to martensite. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of rapidly quenching is accomplished by a cryogenic quench.15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of rapidly quenching is accomplished by an oil quench.16. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of treating the martensitic steel composition to provide a microstructure substantially free of retained austenite further includes the additional steps of multiple aging of the martensitic steel composition in the temperature range of 1000° F. to promote the formation of carbide precipitates to promote the transformation of austenite to a ferrite+graphite structure.17. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of nitriding the martensitic steel composition includes nitriding to achieve a preselected depth in the range of about 0.002″ to about 0.014″.18. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of nitriding the martensitic steel composition includes nitriding for a preselected time of at least about 25 hours.19. The method of claim 12 wherein the martensitic steel composition is selected from the group of alloys consisting of M50 and M50NiL.20. The method of claim 19 further including the additional step of carburizing the martensitic steel composition in the temperature range of about 800° F. to about 1000° F. to prevent the decarburization of the surface region of the martensitic steel during the nitriding step, so as to maintain the carbon content of the martensitic composition within the composition of the alloy.21. The method of claim 12 further including the additional step of grinding the case-hardened surface region to a preselected depth to remove a portion of the surface.22. The method of claim 21 wherein the preselected depth is about 0.002″.23. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of nitriding achieves a nitrogen content of up to about 2%.24. The method of claim 19 wherein M50NiL composition is nitrided at a temperature of about 900° F. to a preselected depth of about 14 mils to achieve a surface hardness of about 70 HRC, the surface region of the M50NiL composition characterized by a nitrogen content of about 2% by weight at a surface, about 1% nitrogen content at about 8 mils below the surface and about 0.5% nitrogen content at about 14 mils below the surface.25. The method of claim 24 wherein M50NiL composition is nitrided at a temperature of about 900° F. to a preselected depth of about 6-10 mils to achieve a surface hardness of about 70 HRC, the surface region of the M50NiL composition characterized by a nitrogen content of about 2% by weight at a surface, about 1% nitrogen content at about 6 mils below the surface and about 0.5% nitrogen content at about 10 mils below the surface.