What is Chain Supply UK - CSUK?

BS & ANSI Roller Chains British Engineered Excellence Since 2005 UK manufacturer & supplier of British Standard (BS) and American Standard (ANSI) roller chains, shaft mounted gear units (SMGU/SMSR) & industrial drive solutions. Serving Mining, Food Processing, Agriculture & Manufacturing from Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

🇺🇸Fast international shipping to the USA. ANSI-standard chains in stock.

UK: +44 1709 878 282

Chain failure reference

Chain Failure Glossary

The twenty failure modes that end the life of an industrial roller, conveyor or leaf chain. Each entry explains what the failure is, what causes it, how to spot it early and how to prevent it coming back, with a link to the CSUK products and services that solve it.

Chain Elongation

Wear stretch, pitch growth

Pitch lengthens as pin and bush surfaces wear, so the chain no longer matches the sprocket.

Fatigue Failure

Plate fatigue, cyclic cracking

Repeated loading cycles start a crack at a stress raiser until the plate breaks under normal load.

Side Plate Cracking

Link plate fracture, sidebar failure

Cracks and splits in inner or outer link plates, usually from fatigue or hydrogen embrittlement.

Pin and Bush Wear

Bearing surface wear, joint wear

The internal bearing surfaces wear as the joint articulates, which is the usual root cause of elongation.

Roller Wear and Spalling

Roller damage, roller breakup

Outer rollers wear flats, score or spall, giving rough running and harsh sprocket engagement.

Abrasive Wear

Grit wear, three-body wear

Hard particles between moving surfaces cut material away, rapidly shortening pitch and plate life.

Adhesive Wear

Scuffing, metal transfer, cold welding

Unlubricated surfaces weld and tear microscopically at high load, causing rapid roughening and seizure.

Corrosion

Rusting, oxidation, atmospheric attack

Chemical attack removes material from plates and pins, loosening joints and lowering strength.

Stress Corrosion Cracking

SCC, environmentally assisted cracking

Tensile stress plus a specific corrosive environment crack plates without visible material loss.

Hydrogen Embrittlement

HE, hydrogen assisted cracking

Hydrogen absorbed during pickling or plating embrittles high strength steel, causing sudden plate fracture.

Galling

Cold welding, pick-up, seizing

Stainless and high load surfaces weld and tear under pressure, jamming pins and bushes.

Surface Pitting

Pitting fatigue, contact fatigue

Repeated high contact stress fatigues surfaces into pits, then spalling and rough running.

Tensile Overload

Chain breakage, pull apart

A single load above the chain's ultimate strength fractures links, usually with a jam or stall behind it.

Shock Loading

Impact load, dynamic overload

Short dynamic peaks far above running load damage plates and joints even when average load is low.

Impact Fracture

Brittle fracture, sudden breakage

Brittle link breaks from a sudden blow, often where low temperature or hardness has reduced toughness.

Lubrication Starvation

Dry running, under-lubrication

Insufficient lubricant in the joints accelerates every wear mechanism and leads to early replacement.

Tight Links and Kinking

Stiff joints, seized links

Joints that no longer articulate freely, caused by corrosion, contamination or press damage.

Misalignment

Shaft misalignment, parallel and angular offset

Sprockets out of line side load the chain, causing edge wear, plate damage and jump off.

Chordal Action

Polygon effect, cyclic speed variation

The chain forms a polygon round the sprocket, so speed and tension fluctuate each tooth engagement.

Sprocket Tooth Wear

Hook wear, tooth hooking

Teeth wear and hook, so pitch and tooth form no longer match and a new chain wears out fast.

Not sure which failure you are looking at?

Send us a photo and the running hours and our engineers will tell you what happened and what to change. UK manufactured chain, quoted and supplied from Rotherham.

Same & Next-Day Delivery Areas