There are three main factors for linear bearing failure: wear failure, contact fatigue failure, and fracture failure.

Wear failure refers to the failure caused by the relative sliding friction between the surfaces, which leads to the continuous wear of the metal on the working surface, which will gradually damage the parts in the linear bearing, and cause the loss of the linear bearing's dimensional accuracy and other related problems. Wear will affect the shape change, increase the fit gap, change the shape of the working surface, and may affect the lubricant or cause the lubricant to be contaminated to a certain extent, resulting in the complete loss of lubrication function, resulting in the loss of rotation accuracy of the linear bearing, or even failure of normal operation .

Wear failure is one of the common failure modes of various bearings. According to the form of wear, it can be divided into common abrasive wear and adhesive wear.Abrasive wear refers to the intrusion of foreign hard particles or hard foreign matter or abrasive particles into the metal surface between the linear bearing working surfaces and the wear caused by the relative movement of the contact surfaces. This usually causes furrow-like scratches on the bearing working surface. Hard particles or foreign matter may come from the inside of the main engine, or other adjacent parts from the main engine system may be sent into the linear NTN bearing through the lubricating medium.

Adhesive wear refers to the uneven stress generated on the friction surface due to tiny protrusions or foreign objects on the friction surface. When the lubrication condition is severely deteriorated, local frictional heat can easily cause local deformation of the friction surface and friction micro-welding. In severe cases, the metal on the surface may melt locally, and the force on the contact surface will tear the local friction welded joint from the substrate and increase plastic deformation. This adhesion-tear-adhesion cycle constitutes adhesive wear. Generally speaking, slight adhesive wear is called wear, and severe adhesive wear is called bite.