Abstract: Rolling contact fatigue(RCF) life is an important criterion for evaluating the quality of thermal spray coatings. At present, mainly three methods are used to study the law of RCF life, i.e. theory model method(TMM), fatigue testing method(FTM), finite element method(FEM). The TMM emphasizes the description of the failure mechanism, and it predicts thermal spray coating life through formula derived by classical theories and parameters measured by RCF test. The FTM attaches importance to the analysis of the fatigue data, which establishes relationships between RCF life and different factors by using Weibull distribution to analyse the statistics obtained from RCF tester. The FEM analyses needed parameters scientifically by using computer software to simulate the real working condition of thermal spray coatings. It is a supplement of the two methods above. The achievements of the three different methods are summarized. The study status of law of RCF life both at home and abroad is also summarized. The combination of FTM and FEM is recognized as the best method to predict the RCF life.

Key words: thermal spray coating;rolling contact fatigue;life prediction