An analytical treatment of the fatigue performance of a cam-roller followler system as influenced by residual stresses induced by grinding, is developed. An approach based on an extended Hertzian analysis is used to determine the 3-D contact stress fields, which are then combined by elastic superposition with the residual stress fields. These residual stresses were measured previously by the x-ray diffraction technique and represent a range of grinding protocols from mild to abusive.

The maximum cyclic component, generally occurring subsurface, is then identified in terms of an effective stress amplitude and mean which are used with a fatigue damage model to predict fatigue crack initiation. Results, pending experimental confirmation, appear reasonable and provide a useful basis for optimizing cam performance in terms of manufacturing and design parameters.