Fig. 1 Shear stress at position P during rolling contact load: a Hertz contact loading, b nephogram of shear stress, c cyclic shear loading, d change curve of shear stress

Fig. 2 Sites occupied by a Cr and b C atoms in the model; c atomic model of GGr15 bearing steel. Red, grayish blue, and black atoms represent Fe atoms, Cr atoms, and C atoms, respectively

Fig. 3 a Stress-strain curve of the sample under uniaxial shear deformation with a consistent strain rate of 109 s−1. The dash lines represent the level of strain applied under cyclic shear deformation. b Various strain-time schemes were employed to investigate cyclic shear deformation under different applied strains of 6.2%, 9.2%, 11.2%

Fig. 4 a Young’s modulus, b shear modulus in different angles

Fig. 5 Cycle-stress responses under different applied strain levels of a 6.2%, b 9.2%, and c 12.2%. The minimum stress (σmin) and maximum stress (σmax) in each cycle are represented by red and blue lines, respectively. d Variation of stress amplitude with the number of cycles under different applied strains

Fig. 6 Cyclic stress-cycle of the samples under different strain levels: a 9.2%, b 12.2%

Fig. 7 Plastic strain energy of two samples under applied strains of 9.2%, 12.2%

Fig. 8 a Variation of the proportion of moderate to severe plastic damage atoms in the samples with applied strains of 9.2% and 12.2% with the number of cycles. The atomic fraction of the four structures (BCC, FCC, HCP, and Other) in samples with different applied strains varies with the number of cycles: b 9.2%, c 12.2%

Fig. 9 Shear strain distribution and atomic snapshot in samples after different cycles under the applied strain of 9.2%. Red, green, and white atoms represent HCP, FCC, Other structures, respectively

Fig. 10 Shear strain distribution and atomic snapshot in samples after different cycles under the applied strain of 12.2%. Red, green, and white atoms represent HCP, FCC, and Other structures, respectively

Fig. 11 Six representative points within a cycle (followed by selecting the representative microstructure of these six points for analysis) under the applied strain of 12.2%. o-a-b-c: loading, c-d-e: unloading, e-f: reverse loading

Fig. 12 Shear strain distribution and atomic snapshot of the sample at the applied strain of 12.2%. a-f corresponding to the six representative points a, b, c, d, e, f in Fig. 11, respectively). a, b, c Loading, c, d, e unloading, e, d, f reverse loading

Fig. 13 Detailed atomic deformation mechanism of the sample after 30 cyclic shear deformations under the applied strain of 12.2%

Fig. 14 a Radial distribution function g(r) at 300 K and b FWHM of three models