Bearing Materials (Forrester) PDF

Metallurgical Reviews
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BEARING MATERIALS
P. G. Forrester
To cite this article: P. G. Forrester (1960) BEARING MATERIALS, Metallurgical Reviews, 5:1,
507-549, DOI: 10.1179/mtlr.1960.5.1.507
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/mtlr.1960.5.1.507
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( 507 )
BEARING MATERIALS
By P. G. FORRESTER, * M.Sc., F.T.M.
I.-FORMS OF PLAIN BEARINGS
THE term bearing material is generally used to describe the special

materials used in plain bearings, that is, bearings in which a load is
Downloaded by [EPFL Bibliothque] at 01:44 21 June 2016
transmitted between relatively moving parts by sliding contact and

without the use of balls or rollers. One of these parts is generally of a
material such as steel, chosen largely for its structural properties, while
the other is of a "bearing material", chosen to operate satisfactorily
against this structural material. The bearing material may be built
into the mechanism in four different ways:
(a) The whole of a component, such as a connecting-rod, may be made
of a bearing material. For example, the connecting-rods of small
compressors are often made of bronze.
(b) The component may be of steel or other structural material, with
its rubbing surface or surfaces lined with bearing material. The lining
may be metallurgically bonded to the component, or alternatively
physical methods such as "dovetailing" may be used. Metallurgical
bonding is generally much to be preferred.
(c) An insert may be made of a bearing material and held in position
physically. For example, it is common engineering practice to hold
cylindrical bearing "bushes" in position by "interference fit", i.e. by
making the outside diameter of the bush (in the free state) somewhat
larger than the bore of the housing into which it is forced.
(d) By combining (b) and (c), a bimetallic bearing "shell" may be
made for insertion into a housing. Such shells may be of bronze or steel
and lined individually, but are now more commonly made from steel
strip previously lined with white metal or other bearing material. This
bimetallic strip is blanked and pressed into journal bearings or thrust
washers and then machined to size. Shell bearings (both "half-shells"
and "bushes") are almost invariably held in position by interference
fit. Thrust washers, which are also frequently made from bimetallic
strip, are generally held by some form of dowelling.
The bimetal strip bearing was developed originally for automobile
engines (in which field it is now completely dominant), and its use is
* Chief Metallurgist, The Glacier Metal Co., Ltd., Kilmarnock.
METALLURGICAL REVIEWS, 1960, Vol. 5, No. 20.
508 Forrester: Bearing Materials
extending rapidly into other fields. Its advantages are both technical
and economic. Technically, its superiority lies in the fact that it enables
a relatively soft lining to be used, structural requirements being met by
the steel backing. From the economic standpoint, bimetal strip bear-
ings can be made by mass-production techniques, and under close quality
control. They are relatively easily stocked and readily replaced when
engines or other machines are overhauled.
n.-FUNCTION OF A BEARING MATERIAL
In general, the main criterion of satisfactory performance of a bearing

is minimum wear of the two component parts, combined with freedom

from seizure and from mechanical failure by distortion or fatigue. The
majority of bearings are supplied with a liquid or greasy lubricant, but
some newer materials operate without lubricants or are self-lubricating.
In the presence of a lubricant the friction of a plain bearing is determined
largely by the geometry of the system, by the load and speed conditions,
and by the nature of the lubricant. The bearing material generally
exerts little influence on the value of friction and the frequently used
expression "antifriction metal" is therefore a misnomer.
A liquid lubricant or grease may reduce friction and wear by one or
both of two mechanisms-hydrodynamic lubrication and boundary
lubrication. In hydrodynamic lubrication, part or all of the load
between the opposing surfaces is sustained by hydrodynamic pressure
within the lubricant, which may be generated by the relative movement
of the surfaces or may be externally applied, as in the case of the
"jacking pressure" used in starting up turbine bearings. There are a
number of standard works dealing with hydrodynamic lubrication,
notably by Shaw and Macks! and Barwel1.2 If the whole of the load
between the surfaces could be carried by the pressure within the lubri-
cant, and the opposing surfaces therefore separated, the wear properties
of the materials would be irrelevant. In practice, however, few if any
bearings operate always under such ideal conditions. When a machine
starts up from rest, no pressure will normally exist in the lubricant
(unless provided independently), so hydrodynamic conditions will not
obtain.
Moreover, it has been shown by Dick,3 and later by Burwell,4 that a
journal bearing develops no hydrodynamic pressure when the direction
of the load is rotating at half the speed of the shaft, a condition that can
obtain for short periods in engine bearings. Lubricant films can, more-
over, be interrupted by particles of dirt which are frequently embedded
in one or other of the surfaces. For these and other reasons, full hydro-
dynamic lubrication is the exception rather than the rule, even in bear-
Forrester: Bearing Materials 509
ings supplied with oil under pressure. In bearings lubricated by more
hit-and-miss methods, departures from hydrodynamic lubrication are
correspondingly greater. The result is that part of the load between the
two components is carried by direct sliding contact between solid
surfaces, modified by the presence of extremely thin films of lubricant, a
regime generally referred to as "boundary" lubrication. If these
films also break down, dry friction between the solid surfaces results.
Friction and wear of unlubricated and boundary-lubricated surfaces
have been the subject of extensive investigation over the last twenty
years, for reviews of which the reader is referred to Bowden and Tabor5
and to Barwell. 6
The present concept of solid friction is, very briefly, as follows. The
two surfaces are in real contact at high points and over an area that in-
creases as the normal load increases. Over the area of real contact
elastic and/or plastic deformation occurs, and the surfaces adhere to an
extent that depends upon the materials involved and the presence of
surface contaminants such as oxides or boundary lubricant films. When
sliding occurs, energy is absorbed in plastic deformation and in ruptur-
ing the bonds that have formed between the surfaces. 'Vear takes
place by particles being torn from one or other of the surfaces; these par-
ticles, which are frequently oxides, may themselves act as abrasives
giving rise to further wear. Breakdown of the surfaces due to continued
plastic deformation may also contribute to wear.
IlL-REQUIREMENTS AND TESTING OF BEARING MATERIALS
The requirements of a lubricated bearing material are, broadly, a low

rate of wear and ability to carry the required load without seizure,
significant distortion, mechanical breakdown, or appreciable corrosion.
It is convenient to consider these requirements under three general
headings: strength properties, running properties, and corrosion
properties, while recognizing that these properties may interact.
1. Strength Properties
The ability of a bearing material to carry a static load depends on its
compressive yield strength at operating temperature, a property that
can be closely defined and tested by well-established techniques. It is,
however, only rarely that lack of compressive strength constitutes a
limitation to bearing performance.
The commonest manner of mechanical breakdown is that known as
cracking, crazing, or fatigue failure. This type of failure occurs only
35-M.R. xx
510 Forrester: Bearing 1.11aterials
when the loading varies in a cyclic or random manner. A varying load .
may be inherent in the application, as in reciprocating engines. Suffi-
cient variations of load to cause failure may also arise through vibration,
&c, in applications in which the normal load is static, e.g. in turbines and
electric motors. The primary loads applied to a bearing surface are
wholly compressive, and it has never been satisfactorily shown how and
why such compressive stresses can cause fatigue failure in a ductile
material. Fatigue is generally the result of a tensile-stress component
and it has been suggested that tensile stresses may be set up by flexure
of the bearing, by plastic deformation inducing resolved tensile stress,
by differential thermal contraction of lining and backing, and by forces
acting parallel to the surface resulting from friction.7 The part played
by thermal effects has been further considered by Boas and Honeycombe
who showed that anisotropy of thermal expansion could cause cracking
in polycrystalline zinc, cadmium, and tin,S and that tin-base alloys also
cracked superficially when subjected to. prolonged thermal cycling.1)
The present author has confirmed this observation but has been unable
to detect any effect on subsequent fatigue performance, as observed by
rotating cantilever tests.to
The mechanism of fatigue in bearings must therefore be regarded as
not fully resolved. There is, however, increasing evidence to suggest
that the continuity of the oil film is a major factor.!1 Negative pres-
sures developing in the film can cause cavitation, while gaps in the film
can give rise to sharp stress gradients, which in turn result in shear
stresses within the lining.
It has been suggested 12 that temperature fluctuations might bring
about fatigue. In the presence of a complete oil film it seems unlikely
that temperature gradients of a sufficient order could be developed, but
with discontinuous fluid lubrication leading to brief periods of boundary
friction, temperature gradients sufficient to induce fatigue stresses might
well be produced.
A number of types of machine have been designed and successfully
operated for the fatigue testing of bearings. The simplest and most
widely adopted principle is to utilize a shaft carrying eccentric weights;
the rotation of the shaft then imposes cyclic loading on the bearings.
Two machines of this type, referred to as the Underwood machine 13
and the Glacier "Viking" machine,14, 15 respectively, have been used
for extensive investigations, some of which will be considered later
in this review. Another type of machine, described by Williams and
Ludicke,16 consists essentially of a dummy engine, cyclic loads being
imposed by the inertia of the pistons. A third type uses hydraulic
loading.!7-19 In all these machines a predetermined load characteristic
can be applied to a bearing or bearings, and from a series of tests it is
Forrester: Bear''ng Materials 511
possible to determine the limiting cyclic load that a bearing can with-
stand without failure. The absolute level of this value may differ
considerably from one machine to another. For example, the limiting
load as determined on one type of hydraulic machine18 is about three
times the figure for exactly the same type of bearing tested on the
Glacier "Viking" machine.I4, 15 The divergence is probably accounted
for by differences in operating temperature, in alignment, and in con-
tinuity of the oil film when the load is applied. The relative fatigue
strengths of different materials do, however, remain fairly constant
from one machine to another and are in line with general field exper-
ience. So far as fatigue properties are concerned, fairly reliable assess-
ment techniques are thus available.
2. Running Properties
This general term is used to describe the behaviour of a material as
regards wear of itself and of the opposing member and in respect of its
liability to seizure (i.e. locking of the bearing). Numerous testing
machines and techniques have been devised to assess these properties,
but none has proved wholly satisfactory. The basic difficulty is that
the running properties of a lubricated bearing depend upon a number of
factors besides the bearing material: the lubrication system, the chem-
ical and physical properties of the lubricant, the presence of abrasive
particles, the loading characteristics, the clearance, and the surface
finish of the bearing surfaces are all of major importance. A material
that is perfectly satisfactory under one set of conditions may be quite
useless if the conditions are changed. Furthermore, there is no single
criterion of good performance. In some cases, the minimum rate of
wear is the principal interest. In others, it is the maximum load that
can be carried without seizure or overheating, or the time for which a
bearing will function with restricted lubrication. This lack of clarity
in defining" good" bearing qualities helps to explain the diversity of
the conclusions that have been reached on the relative merits of different
materials.
At this stage brief mention should be made of two criteria sometimes
applied to bearing materials. The first is that of PV (pressure X
velocity). It was at one time fairly common to quote a maximum PV
figure, but this factor is now generally recognized to be meaningless as a
criterion of materials in lubricated bearings. In fact as V increases
P max. (the maximum permissible load) at first rises also, since the
higher the value of V the greater is the load-carrying capacity of the oil
film. P max. reaches a maximum value limited by the strength of the
material, and then falls, because material strength decreases as a result
of increased temperature. As will be shown later, PV may be a valid
criterion for unlubricated bearing materials. .
The second criterion is that of minimum ZNjP. It can be shown that
in a "perfect" journal bearing, the p,f(ZNjP) relationship where
p, = coefficient of friction, Z = lubricant viscosity, N = rotational speed,
P = load per unit area, is a straight line passing through the origin. In
practice, this relationship holds down to a certain value of ZN j P below
whichp, increases sharply, owing to breakdown of full fluid lubrication.
Below this minimum the bearing is unstable, for the increase in fl causes
a rise in temperature which decreases Z and hence further increases p,.
Conversely, above the minimum the bearing is stable.
The minimum value of ZN /P for a given design of bearing changes

with the bearing material, softer materials giving lower values. Theo-
retically, materials with a lower ZN/P minimum can be used at lower
speeds, at higher loads, or with less viscous oils. In practice, however,
differences in materials are largely swamped by differences in bearing
design and surface finish, and in any case bearings are normally run well
above the minimum point. A low ZN / P minimum is advantageous in
starting from rest, or coming to a standstill, when the minimum must
inevitably be passed through. The lower the minimum, the less the
amount of running under conditions of fluid film breakdown.
The effect on ZN/P minimum is, however, only one of a number of
ways in which the material affects the performance of a bearing, so that
it cannot be used as the sole criterion of a bearing material.
Wear properties of a bearing are generally of major interest, and it
must be remembered that a bearing consists of two components, either
or both of which can wear. In this review, wear of the bearing material
will be referred to as "bearing wear", while wear of the opposing surface
will be called "j ournal wear."
Tichvinsky20 in 1939, made a very detailed survey of apparatus for
wear testing, in which unlubricated or sparsely lubricated surfaces were
allowed to rub together under load in some form of test rig and the rate
of wear measured. An investigation using this technique has recently
been described by Booser, Scott, and \Vilcock.21 Their tests were
carried out both unlubricated and lubricated with one drop of oil. The
"dwell" period was measured, i.e. the time of running before wear
began, and also the rate of bearing wear. Conditions were such as to
give an extremely high rate of wear (001-19 in./h). In view of this
high wear rate itis hardly surprising that some of their results are not in
line with practical experience; for example, cadmium-nickel appeared
to be much better than tin-base or lead-base Babbitt, and a copper-base
alloy with 35% zinc was found much superior to 80: 10: 10 copper-Iead-
tin bronze.
Forreste1 Bearing Materials
A
: 513
The limitations of laboratory wear tests for comparisons of practical
materials are becoming more generally recognized, and wear rigs now
tend to be confined to fundamental studies. These studies of wear have
been carried out largely with pure metals or with steel and are thus
outside the scope of this review.
The more practical form of wear test has contributed considerably to
the study of bearing materials. It was shown by Ludicke22 in 1941 that
in a test rig operating with piston-inertia loading16 no wear occurred in
the test bearings or journals unless an abrasive was present in the lubri-
cant. Roach used the Underwood fatigue machine 13to investigate the
effect of bearing material and abrasive particle size on journal wear
and on temperature rise in bearings.23 When his results are plotted to

show journal wear rate against abrasive particle size, the extrapolated
line appears to cross the particle-size axis, implying zero wear at a finite
particle size. Taking into account the scatter of results, it may be that
the intercept on the particle-size axis is not significant, and that in fact
zero wear occurs at zero particle size. It is at least fairly definite that
no wear occurs in the absence of abrasive particles. Roach's results on
different materials show that the softer materials, such as white metal,
give much less journal wear than the harder ones such as copper-lead
alloys. The use of artificial contaminants is, however, possibly mis-
leading, for it cannot be assumed that they will have the same effect as
the natural contaminants found in engines. Baker and Brailey24 have
described a testing technique using car engines in normal service. This
technique demands accurate measurement and statistical handling of
data, while comparison must be against an internal standard. V~ry
reproducible results were obtained with similar e:p.gines. Journal wear
appeared to be mainly attributable to ferrous particles embedded in the
bearing. The bearings themselves frequently gained in thickness, owing
to embedding of these particles. It was observed that only certain
engines distinguished clearly different bearing materials. Using such
"discriminating" engines, Duckworth and Forrester25 compared the
wear obtained on unhardened journals with ten different materials. The
results were broadly in line with those of Roach, indicating a ge,neral
tendency for soft materials to give less journal wear than hard ones.
Hardness alone, however, did not appear to explain all the differences
observed. A fuller interpretation of results was attempted by construct-
ing various dimensionally possible relationships with basic properties
and testing these by regression analysis. The best fit was obtained by
plotting (dw/dt)/yms against HA3/F where: dw/dt = journal wear rate
as compared with white-metal standard, m = melting point of lowest-
melting-point constituent, s = bulk specific heat, H = bulk hardness,
A = atomic diameter of major constituent, and F = free energy of
formation of oxide of major constituent. This relationship is shown in
Fig. 1. Taking results from all tests, 83% of the variance was explained
by this regression.
Hypotheses can be found to explain the effect of the factors included.
For example, the melting point, bulk specific heat, and bulk hardness
will all affect the tendency of a particle to embed. Since ferrous particles
are mainly involved, the tendency for iron to stick to the surface will
also be important, and according to Goodzeit, Hunnicutt, and Roach,26
the atomic diameter in relation to that of iron is one factor determining
this tendency. Tests on a wider range of materials will be necessary to
test these hypotheses fully, for a significant regression does not necessarily
mean a causal relationship. If it is assumed that the surface temper-

atures in these tests were of the order of 1800 (higher than is generally
supposed), then a reasonably good fit can be obtained between wear
rate and hardness (at operating temperature) alone.
04
~o.)
--
~
-0
02
~ 0'1
-.J
. 600 1000
HA3/F
[Courtesy Institution of ~Mechal1ical En(Jineers.
FIG. I.-Relationship between (dw/dt)/v'ms and HA3/F. Single vehicle tests.

(Duckworth and Forrester.25)
Field wear tests of vehicle chassis bushes have been reported by Brun-
strum and Hayne27 and by Ruppe,28 but in both cases the objective was
to test lubricants rather than materials. There is a need for similar
comparative tests of materials.
There can be little doubt that wear by contaminated lubricants is
best examined by field tests of this type, or failing this, by rig tests
designed to simulate field conditions. On the other hand the property
of seizure-resistance is much more difficult to examine, since in many
mechanisms seizure may be catastrophic in its effects. Oil-starved car
engines have been employed for seizure testing, but indirect methods
have been more usual. A particularly interesting series of tests was
made by Lunn,29 using a steel ball reciprocated under load against the
bearing material. The electrical resistance of the contact was deduced,
giving a so-called L value. A high L value indicated much metal-to-
metal contact, and hence by implication a poor bearing material. Lunn
believed the differences he observed between various metals were due to
differences in the nature and adherence of the lubricant film. For in-
stance, he suggests that lead acts as an oxidation catalyst and thereby
assists in the production of a film, presumably some sort of soap,
formed by reaction between oxidized oil and oxidized metal; in a later
publication 30he refers to this film as a "plastic solid". While there is
undoubtedly indirect evidence for such an effect, it would clearly be
desirable to obtain more direct evidence before the hypothesis can be
regarded as securely based; surface examination by electron diffraction
might provide this.
Other possible interpretations of Lunn's results on white metals have

been advanced by Love, Forrester, and Burke,!4 who showed that
highly significant correlations existed between the L value and hardness,
and also between the L value and percentage of intermetallic compounds
in the structure of the alloy. A high hardness or a high percentage of
intermetallic compounds were associated with a high L value and hence
with poor bearing properties. Since hardness and intermetallic com-
pounds are themselves correlated, it was impossible to distinguish the
responsible factor. The present author has previously shown,3! in a
series of tests on tin-antimony solid solutions, that low hardness favours
fluid film formation under otherwise unfavourable conditions, presum-
ably because a soft material conforms closely and hence allows an oil
film of relatively large area to form. It can also be argued that inter-
metallic compounds may stand proud of the bearing surface and tend to
penetrate the oil film locally.
While it is probable that Lunn's results are to some extent attributable
to hardness differences or, less probably, to metallographic structure,
some of the differences between white metals and all the differences
between copper-base alloys cannot be explained in this way and this
conclusion supports Lunn's own theories. Some results on reciprocating
bearings obtained by Barwell and Milne 32 also demonstrate the existence
of an interaction between lubricant and material. They show a tin-
base alloy to be better with an uncompounded oil than with a compound
oil and vice versa for a lead-base alloy.
A more conventional method of comparing seizure-resistance of
materials is simply to apply increasing loads on a statically loaded
bearing until seizure takes place or until a predetermined level of fric-
tional torque is reached. This method was at one time used extensively,
but is now employed only to a limited extent. A recent example of its
use is by Khrushchov et al.33 and in this case the results do tend to accord
with general experience, indicating the superiority of white metal and
leaded bronze over a zinc-base alloy. The value of tests of this kind is,
nevertheless, very doubtful. A high seizure load may imply a good-
material, but it may equally well imply a high rate of wear, giving rise to
quick bedding-in and favouring oil film formation.
An important contribution to the study of seizure-resistance was
made by Goodzeit, Hunnicutt, and Roach,26 who examined the sliding
properties of thirty-nine elements against iron and concluded that
good running properties were associated with metals that are immiscible
with iron in the solid state and fall into the B sub-groups of the Periodic
Table. The experimental facts and practical experience give support
to this hypothesis, though there are anomalies.
To summarize, there are no generally accepted criteria for comparing
the wear and anti-seizure properties of lubricated bearing materials, nor

any known laboratory test methods that can be relied upon to give
generally useful assessments or comparisons. In the absence of any
reliable criteria, correlations between fundamental properties and bear-
ing performance must be equally uncertain. Many of the published
comparisons between different materials are based upon criteria of very
dubious practical value. For example, it is seldom useful for a designer
to know that material A seizes at 10,000 Ib/in2 in a well-lubricated bear-
ing, while materialB seizes at 70001b/in2 in the same bearing. Heis far
more likely to be interested in knowing how the two materials will
behave at much lower loads, but with an imperfect supply of lubricant
carrying an abrasive. At present, all that can be done is to observe and
compare systematically the performance of materials in the field, and
to try to interpret these results in the light of the information obtained
in the course of laboratory investigations.
In the author's view the most profitable line of progress will be syste-
matic observation of field performance enabling applications to be
classified into groups showing similar behaviour and requirements. The
conditions of these applications could then be simulated in laboratory
tests and the tests validated by correlating their results with those
obtained in field trials. A firm foundation would thus be laid for an
investigation of the fundamental properties needed.
In subsequent sections, the various commonly used bearing alloys will
be compared and assessed, but the comparison will be mainly related to
practical experience. The laboratory test results quoted and inter-
pretation of behaviour must be viewed against this background of un-
certainty of test criteria.
3. Corrosion-Resisting Properties
Some bearing materials are liable to attack by organic acids, which
may be initially present in the lubricant or may develop through oxida-
tion. 'Vaters and Burnham term these conditions "existent" and
"potential" corrosivity, and describe tests for each property.34
Zuidema35, 36 has reviewed this subject in some detail.
The extent of corrosion can be measured dimensionally or by weight
loss, and there is no inherent difficulty in designing bench tests for
materials or lubricants. Since temperature, time, presence of catalysts,
and removal of corrosion product are all important, actual engine tests
have their advantages, as pointed out by Underwood.37 Corrosion will
be further discussed when particular types of alloy are considered.
4. The Hardness/Fatigue Strength Oompromise

In considering the relative merits of bearing materials, it is useful to
have in mind that a degree of compromise is generally involved. As
shown in Section III.2, there is much experimental evidence for the
superior running properties of soft materials as compared with harder
ones. Soft materials conform more readily to the journal and hence
reduce local loading; they embed abrasive particles and hence reduce
journal wear; and they confine damage to a single component, which is
more readily replaceable. Furthermore, softness is frequently asso-
ciated with low melting point, and this property is valuable in allowing
high spots to be removed without damage to the remainder of the bear-
ing surfaces, and hence in reducing liability to seizure.
In bearing materials, as in other materials, there is however a general
tendency for hardness to be correlated with fatigue strength. Thus, while
very soft materials can be used for applications which do not involve
high fatigue loading, when fatigue loads increase-harder materials have
to be used and some loss of running properties must be faced. The
pattern of bearing material development is to a large extent a series of
attempts to escape, at least partially, from this dilemma. Three types
of approach have been made:
(a) The use of linings thin enough to gain support from astrong back-
ing. Such a bearing has at least some of the advantages of a soft
material, combined with a fatigue strength considerably above that of a
soft material in massive form.
(b) The use of "overlay" bearings in which a very thin overlay of a
soft metal is electrodeposited on to the surface of a harder bearing
material.
(c) The use of a material consisting of a soft phase embedded in a
harder and stronger matrix. Copper-lead and aluminium-tin alloys
both form this type of structure. Similar" alloys" can be made
mechanically by "gridding", i.e. by cutting a grid in the surface of a
518 Forrester: Bea'ring Materials
strong material such as a copper alloy and filling this grid with a tin-.
base or lead-base alloy.
The advantages and limitations of these various expedients will be
discussed when the particular materials involved are described.
Mention must also be made of another consideration which relates to
the question of bearing material hardness, namely the nature of the
mating material. The undesirable effects of increased hardness of the
bearing material can be mitigated by using a harder journal or thrust
surface. In practice, this implies the use of a harder steel, or alter-
natively nitriding or induction-hardening the relevant surfaces. The
effect of this is to reduce the rate of wear caused by abrasive particles

and also to reduce the liability to scoring or scuffing of the journal
surfaces. These expedients are being adopted to an increasing extent,
as the use of copper-base and aluminium-base alloys increases.
IV.-WHITE METALS
1. Composition
Tin-base alloys usually contain up to t'.J 14% antimony and up to

t'.J 10% copper, the most generally used alloys being in the range of
7-10% antimony and 3-51c> copper. The tin-rich corner of this system
has been thoroughly investigated by Harding and Pell-Walpole,38though
unfortunately up to only 3% copper. The main constituents present are
fJ (SbSn), y (Cu6SnS), and a ternary peritectic complex. The structures
of two typical tin-base alloys are illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 (Plate
XXXV). Fig. 2. shows an alloy with 7% antimony and 3t1c> copper,
containing only the y and ternary peritectic constituents. Fig. 3 is of
an alloy with 9% antimony and 4% copper, containing fl, y, and ternary
peritectic constituents. Lead has generally been regarded as detri-
mental,39 as it causes a sharp reduction of the solidus and in high-duty
alloys lead is limited to t'.J 0'35%. Lunn,29 however, claims that lead
improves running properties.
Cadmium increases hardness, tensile strength, and fatigue strength,40
while nickel and tellurium have been added with the same objective.
Unpublished work by the author's colleagues in The Glacier Metal
Company's Research Laboratories has, however, indicated no significant
effect of these elements on the fatigue performance of tin-base white
metals in bearing form.
The tensile properties and hardness of tin-base alloys are affected
only to a moderate extent by changes in composition over the normal
range employed.4o Thus, the softest alloy in common use (7% Sb,
Forrester: Bea1'ing Materials 519
3i-% Ou) has a hardness at 1000 (a typical operating temperature) of
~ 11 DPN, while the hardest normally used (10% Sb, 10% Ou) has a
hardness at 1000 of 16 DPN. The fatigue strength is even less sensitive
to composition; the results of Forrester, Greenfield, and Duckett41
reproduced in Fig. 4, indicate that over the whole practical range of
alloys the effective fatigue strength on a 107-cycle basis at 1000 lies
between 105 and 125 tons/in 2. Because of this relative insensitivity
to composition, the performance of tin-base alloys is much more
dependent on good bonding and on physically sound material than on
the exact specification of the alloy.20
[Courtesy "lIIelalluruia".
Fro. 4.-The influence of antimony and copper content on the fatigue strength of
tin base alloys at 1000. (Forrester, Greenfiel~, and Duckett.41)
Lead-base bearing alloys generally contain antimony, tin, and copper

as alloying elements and show essentially the same intermetallic com-
pounds, SbSn and OU6SnS,as the tin-base alloys. A typical composi-
tion is Sb 14, Sn 10, Ou t%' remainder lead, the microstructure of which
is shown in Fig. 5 (Plate XXXVI). These alloys have generally been
regarded as cheaper and somewhat inferior substitutes for tin-base
alloys. In hardness and strength they are very similar to the tin-base
alloys,40 though they are much more brittle, and there is fairly general
agreement42-46 that their bearing wear properties are inferior. An
alloy containing 3% arsenic was claimed by Phillips, Smith, and Beck47
to have superior strength properties to tin-base alloys, and an alloy
with ~ 1% arsenic (S.A.E.15) is now very widely used in America for
~he thin linings in internal-combustion-engine bearings. The results of
Duckworth and Walter15 show the lead-base alloys to. be slightly in-
ferior to tin-base alloys in fatigue strength. It has been claimed that
520 Forrester: Bewring Materials
the fatigue strength of low-tin lead-base alloys becomes superior to tin-
base alloys at higher temperatures. This would be expected from the'
higher solidus temperature of the lead-base alloys, but to the author's
knowledge there is no evidence whether or not the cross-over point is at
a temperature likely to be encountered in practice.
In large bearings one problem associated with the use of lead-base
alloys is segregation due to the large difference in density between the
primary phases, such as SbSn, and the liquid from which they separate.
Reichenecker48 showed that this could be avoided by adding sufficient
copper (> !%), since a "skeleton" of CU6Sn5 then forms. The present
author has found, however, that if this skeleton is broken up by puddling
or other movement during solidification, copper has no influence on

segregation.
Alkali-hardened lead alloys, containing calcium, &c., have been quite
widely used, but now appear to be employed to a diminishing extent. A
typical composition is that of Bahnmetall, given as Na 0,6, Ca 07,
Li 0'04%, remainder lead. Intermediate alloys containing a substantial
amount of both lead and tin continue to be widely used, though their
advantage over high-lead alloys has never been clear. As in other
bearing fields, quantitative practical data are lacking and divergent
opinions only too prevalent.
2. Properties
The good bearing qualities of the white metals were at one time attri-
buted to their characteristic structure-a hard compound or compounds
in a soft matrix. Tabor46 was unable to find much support for this
conception, and, as already pointed out, the evidence of Lunn 29 tends
to indicate that compounds are undesirable. The merit of the white
metals probably.lies much more in their achieving the right compromise
between softness and strength, and the fact that the stronger alloys
have a two-phase structure may be incidental.
There is extensive information in the literature on the physical
properties of white metals. This has been summarized by Greenfield
and Forrester,40 who have also published detailed information on the
fatigue properties of tin-base alloys,41 and by Gillett, Russell, and
Day ton. 50 An investigation of their elastic properties is described by
Cuthbertson. 51 There is, however, little factual information on the
comparative performance of the various white metals based on field
tests or on laboratory tests simulating all aspects of practical application.
The presence of a considerable quantity of lead in tin-base white metals
has been known to cause failure at high temperatures, but apart from
this the author is not aware of any clearly substantiated case where
Forreste1': Bearing 1'1a,terials 521
performance has been greatly affected by small changes in alloy com-
position. In most cases the effects of composition appear to be mar-
ginal and likely to be swamped by more important variables, such as the
lubrication system and factors affecting heat transfer. In choosing white
metal, prior practical experience of similar applications still appears to
be the best guide.
White metals are generally used as relatively thin linings bonded to
steel, bronze, or cast-iron shells, and the lining thickness and quality
of bond have much more influence on performance than the composition
of the alloy. The greater resistance to fatigue of thin linings has been
known for some time,52, 53but the first quantitative data appear to be
4500
! 4000
,

~
:i 3S00
l-
I.?
Z
~ 3000
w
:>
I.?
~ 2S00
2000
o 2 4 6 8 10 12
LINING THICKNESS, IN. X 10")
[Courtesy Institution of lI:fechanical Engineers.
FIG. 6.-Effect of lining thickness on the fatigue strength'of steel-backed tin-base

white-metal bearings. (Duckworth and Walter.I5)
due to Schaefer,54 who, using "the Underwood machine, demonstrated

that bearing life at a given load increased sharply when the white metal
thickness was reduced below"", 0012 in. Fuller information has been
provided by Duckworth and Walter,15 who carried out tests on the
Glacier "Viking" machine and plotted fatigue strength against lining
thickness for tin-base white metal (see Fig. 6). Fatigue strength was
almost doubled by reducing the lining thickness from 0010 to 0002 in.
For this reason thin linings are general in engine bearings; a thickness
of 0004-0007 in. is common, and still thinner linings are being used
to a limited extent. The major limitations to very thin linings are
manufacturing difficulties and the lack of warning when a very thin
lining is about to fail.
It is clear that the observed increase in fatigue strength as thickness is
reduced must be attributable to some difference in properties between
lining and backing, but the property or properties responsible have not~
been positively identified. It was suggested by Love, Forrester, and
Burke14 that the ratio of stress distribution approaches the ratio of the
elastic moduli of the two materials forming the composite structure, but
this hypothesis is not supported by the results of Duckworth and
Walter,15 which suggest that hardness or yield strength of the backing
material is the critical factor.
Roach and Johnson 55 analysed the stresses present in thin linings
bonded to a rigid backing subjected to a compressive stress distribution
as imposed by an oil film, and concluded that for linings with a Poisson's
ratio value of 05 the effective stress decreases with decreasing lining
thickness down to zero, but that with a Poisson's ratio value < 05,
there is an optimum thickness for minimum effective stress. This
theory has not, to the author's knowledge, been tested experimentally.
Corrosion by organic acids does not occur with tin-base white metals
nor significantly with lead-base metals containing tin and/or antimony. 50
A peculiar type of attack characterized by the formation of tin oxides
has been observed in certain turbine bearings,66 the reason for which has
not yet been determined.
3. Manufacturing Methods
Unbacked white metal is sometimes used for small, lightly loaded
bearings, which are commonly manufactured by a conventional die-
casting technique.57 The great majority of white-metal bearings,
however, consist of a steel, bronze, or cast-iron backing with the white-
metal lining firmly bonded to it. Such bearings can be made either by
lining preformed components individually or in pairs, or, in the case of
steel-backed bearings, by manufacturing bimetal strip and then forming
this into half-bearings, bushes, thrust-washers, &c. The individual
methods are the best known and the most widely practised, but by far
the largest number of white-metal bearings and bushes are now made by
pressing from bimetal strip. Individual lining methods have been
described by a number of authors. The main steps of the process are:
(a) Preparation of the shell to give a clean and readily tinned surface;
(b) hot-tinning of the shell (thereby preheating it and providing a
surface to which the white metal can bond); and (c) lining with the
bearing alloy.
Shells may be prepared either by chemical (pickling) or mechanical

(machining or shot-blasting) methods. Thwaites58 has shown that a
higher bond strength is obtained by pickling than by shot blasting, and
he suggests that mechanical treatment leaves particles of loosely
adherent metal on the surface, and that bond fracture is initiated by
failure of these relatively weak welds. The present author in corres-
pondence 59 has suggested an alternative explanation, based on experi-
ence with a variety of bimetals, namely, that the worked material may
contain a greater number of vacant lattice sites which may tend to
condense at the bond by the Kirkendall effect. A variety of pickling
processes are suitable39, 42, 57 for steel and bronze. For cast iron,
special treatments are necessary to prevent the bond being weakened by
the presence of graphite, and various successful pretreatments have been
devised.60, 61
Pretinning of the shell is not absolutely essential to bonding, as Pry-
therch's62 experiments have shown, but it is a very convenient way of

preheating the shell to bonding temperature without contaminating its
surface by films that cannot be removed. Examination of the shell after
pretinning also gives a rough and ready indication of its cleanliness and
therefore of its suitability for lining.
The actual lining operation may be carried out by static casting into
the cavity between the shell and a mandrel, by die-casting, or by centri-
fugal casting. Rolfe,42 Melhuish,57 and others have described and
compared these methods. The three main requirements of any process
are:
(i) Directional cooling; this promotes solidification from the bond
inwards and hence avoids the formation of contraction cavities at the
bond.63
(ii) Good feeding to promote soundness.
(iii) Avoidance of severe segregation.
Centrifugal casting promotes a good bond and a sound lining, though

some segregation appears inevitable with this method.64 In view of the
insensitivity of properties to composition, some degree of segregation is
functionally quite harmless. Segregation can generally be reduced to
an acceptable extent with tin-base alloys, but with most lead-base
alloys it is very severe. An exception is the lead-base alloy S.A.E.13;
Mohler65 has shown that this can be centrifugally cast with little or no
segregation owing to the absence of the primary SbSn phase.
Various methods have been adopted for measuring the adherence of
bearing metals to the backing. That due to Chalmers 66 has been
widely used, and Forrester and Greenfield64, 67 have adopted this test
to examine the effect of a variety of factors on adhesion. In common
with other similar methods, it involves the destruction of the bearing
or test-piece and is difficult to apply and unreliable with thin linings.
No thoroughly satisfactory non-destructive test is known to the author.
Both ultrasonic and electrical-resistance techniques can, however, give a
524 Forrester: Bearing 111aterials
useful qualitative indication of bond soundness, and both methods are
used with success by the author's Company.
The continuous casting of white metal on to steel strip has not been
described in detail in the literature, though brief outlines have been
given by Fisher68 and Melhuish.69 The principles are identical with
those for individual shell linings, i.e. thorough preparation of the steel,
tinning to preheat and protect, casting of the lining metal to a controlled
thickness, and directional cooling from the bond. The method is used
for both tin-base and lead-base white metals. A special type of thin
white-metal bearing is the Moraine 100bearing,70, 71made by sintering
a copper-nickel alloy on to steel, and vacuum-impregnating the pores
with a lead-base white metal, leaving a layer on the surface which is

subsequently machined down to 0001-0'003 in.
4. Applications of White-Metal Bearings

White metals are the most widely used of all bearing materials.
They are still the most extensively employed alloys for petrol-engine
bearings, but they are losing ground to overlay copper-lead and to
aluminium-tin alloys. Other major uses are in turbines, electric
motors, rolling mills, and railway locomotives and rolling stock. The use
of white metal on the railways has been described in two informative
papers by Bradley and O'Neill 72and by Cox.73 These and other uses
are likely to continue for many years.
There appear to be no clearly defined fields of application of tin-base,
lead-base, and intermediate alloys. The choice is largely determined by
the balance between technical and economic considerations, but
"custom and practice" also playa considerable part. Tin-base alloys
have certain rather marginal advantages. They are more readily
bonded and less liable to segregation, factors which make for greater
reliability. They have better bearing wear-resisting properties, though
journal wear is not distinguishable from that with lead-base alloys.
Their corrosion-resistance is better, though that of lead-base alloys is
generally amply good enough. In applications where the metal cost is a
relatively small factor, or where highest possible performance and
security are needed, as, for example in hydroelectric installations,
tin-base alloys tend to be preferred.
On the other hand, where performance requirements are very moder-
ate and bearings relatively massive, as in large electric motors, lead-base
alloys are an obvious choice. The automobile industries of the United
States and of the United Kingdom afford an interesting comparison, for
the former uses lead-base alloys almost exclusively, whereas the latter
favours tin-base alloys. The difference probably arose in the first place
PLATE .xx.\ \'
FI(:. i.-ScC'tion of tin-ha,se bearing Illetal containing 70 a.ntinlon." and :~1o

copper, sho\\"ing the y and ternary peritectic constituent,;. X 100.
FIr.. :~.-Structure of tin-base alloy containing 9~o antimony and 4~o copper,
,;howing fl. )', and ternary peritectic constituents. X 100.
Fw. ;).-~tructure of lead-base alloy containing 1.+" antimony. ]0% tin. O.i~"
copper. Principal constituents: ~bSn Hlld eutectic. ]00.
Fig,.:.2,3,;;' 8, n, I]. antl12 arc reproduced by courte,.:y IIfThc Glacicr:\1etaICo .. Ltd.

PLATE XXX\"ll
FIG. R.-Cast copper-/eall alloy sholl'ing marked I.,' dC'ndritic "trlletllrC' of (oppel'.
X lI,L
.FlO. D.-Sintcrcd coppC'r-lead allo,'" sho\\jng intC'rlocking nC't\\'()rks of ('oppel' ancl

jead. IIk
F arrester: Bearing Materials 525
through the tendency in America to avoid tin for strategic reasons.
The technical and economic merits of tin-base and lead-base alloys for
engine bearings are so evenly balanced that once a practice is established
there is little incentive to change.
V.-COPPER-BASE ALLOYS
1. Bronzes
The widespread use of cast and wrought bronzes for bearings is a good
example of the empiricism of bearing practice; there has been little
investigation of, or even published discussion on, the merits of these

alloys as bearings. Long 74quotes the general belief that they are par-
ticularly suitable for high compressive loads combined with low or
moderate speeds. Barwell and Milne32 found the wear properties of a
leaded bronze to be better than those of a lead-base white metal in a
reciprocating bearing test. For castings a wide range of alloys is used,
starting with the traditional phosphor-bronze (Sn 10, P l%, remainder
copper). The principal British specifications are given in B.S. 1400.
The addition of zinc is generally considered to impair bearing properties,
although factual evidence for this is lacking.
A major development in cast bronzes has been the increasing use of
continuous casting for the production of bar stock in various composi-
tions, both cored and solid. The Asarco continuous process has been
described by Smart and Smith,75 and Smart and Kranz 76have given the
results of wear tests on the material produced by it. A relatively
simple semi-continuous process developed by the Tin Research Institute
is described by Ellwood.77
The tendency is, however, for solid bronze bushes to be replaced by
steel-backed leaded-bronze bushes, and the latter are now in very
widespread demand for a great variety of applications. They are made
from bimetal by pressing techniques, the bimetal having been produced
either by continuous sintering or by continuous casting processes,
similar to those described later for copper-lead-lined bearings. Such
bushes are known in the United Kingdom as "wrapped" bushes and in
the United States as "sheet-metal" bushes. Two compositions of
leaded bronze are commonly employed, namely, 80: 10: 10 and 76: 4: 20
copper-tin-lead. Blanks of appropriate size are cut from the bimetal,
and oil holes and oil grooves are pressed into the blank while it is still
in the flat form. The blank is then bent in two operations into a.
cylindrical shape.
Another form of bronze bearing in very widespread use is the sintered,
porous, oil-impregnated bearing. The manufacture of such bearings
37-M.R. xx
526 FO'l-rester: Bearing Materials
has been considered in some detail by Goetzel78 and also summarized .
by Langhammer79 and by Morgan and Cameron.80 Copper powder,
usually electrolytic, and tin powder are mixed and compacted to form a
"green" compact, which sometimes also contains a little graphite. The
"green" compact is then sintered in a reducing atmosphere and finally
coined to the finished size. A common composition is 90% Cu-I0% Sn,
and a porosity in the range 25-35% is usual. Morgan and Cameron 80
show that oil circulation takes place during the operation of the bearing,
oil flowing from the loaded region through the pores of the bearing to a
region of lower pressure, and they consider the effect of this upon the
Reynolds equation for the operation of the bearing. Morgan also
discusses the effect of practical operating conditions, and especially of

oil loss ;81 oil loss occurs to an extent that is approximately dependent on
the logarithm of the running time. Unlike oil-fed bearings, where most
of the frictional heat is carried away by the oil flow, these" self-
lubricating" porous metal bearings have to rely upon conduction and
convection for dissipation of the whole of the frictional heat. As the
quantity of frictional heat produced is proportional to PV fl, (where P
is pressure, V is velocity, and JL is the coefficient of friction) and the life
of the oil is dependent upon the running temperature, the product PV
can be used as an approximate design parameter. Under average
conditions of thermal dissipation and choosing a mean value of fl, a PV
of 50,000-60,000 Ib/in2 X ft/min is quoted by a number of manu-
facturers as the limit of safe operation when the oil in the pores of the
bearing is the only lubricant available during the life of the bearing.
The viscosity of the oil is chosen to give the lowest value of fl according
to the values of P and V separately, as in a conventional bearing,
but allowance is made for the reduction of oil-film pressure arising
from flow into the pores in the loaded region. On account of the
porous nature of the bronze, the bearing pressure should not exceed
4000-5000 Ib/in282
Pure iron and iron-copper mixtures are also used for porous bearings.
They give higher compressive strength, and permit bearing pressures up
to 20,000 Ib/in2, but according to Langhammer79 they have poorer
bearing properties than bronze.
As will be shown in a later section, tin bronze is of outstanding value in
combination with polytetrafluoroethylene in dry bearings. The peculiar
value of tin bronze in bearing materials has never, to the author's know-
ledge, been satisfactorily explained. It may be that an explanation
lies in the tenacious character of the tin oxide film that forms on bronze,
which prevents it from being disrupted when the underlying alloy suffers
plastic deformation. -
2. Oopper-Lead Alloys
There is no sharp dividing line between the leaded bronzes and the
copper-lead alloys; the latter term generally implies 20-500/0 lead and ~
5% tin, nickel, or silver. Such alloys have been used for many years, and
Bassett, in his book published in 1937,83 devoted considerable space to
them, stating that they were then used "very extensively" for aircraft
and diesel engine bearings. They were developed intensively during
the Second Wodd War for aircraft, fighting vehicles, and ships. They
are almost invariably used as linings for steel-backed bearings, their
own strength being insufficient to maintain fit, and very considerable
problems arise in manufacturing such bearings. These problems have

been considered by Liddiard and Forrester.84 There is a liquid
miscibility gap in the copper-lead system,85 extending from 36 to 92%
lead, and a freezing range of "-' 6200. To these inherent difficulties
may be added the usual hydrogen-porosity problems of copper-base
alloys and the necessity for raising the surface of the steel shell to a
sufficient temperature to promote bonding (1: 9500). The castings
are thus prone to porosity, blow-holes, development of a continuous lead
phase, lead segregation, and poor bonding. The literature reviewed by
Bassett 83reveals considerable preoccupation with the addition of alloy-
ing elements such as tin, nickel, silver, sulphur, tellurium, zinc, &c., to
reduce segregation oflead. Lining techniques have also received much
attention, although details have not often been disclosed. Some early
manufacturing methods were described by Rolfe42 and also by Bollen-
rath, Bungardt, and Schmidt.86 The first continuous-lining method to
be described,87 which lined both sides of the strip~ was designed for an
alloy containing 4t-5% silver, and an alloy containing 30% silver, 30%
copper, 40% lead has also been proposed.88 In the light of later ex-
perience it is difficult to believe that the use of these high-cost alloys
could be justified on functional grounds. Lining methods have now
been developed which minimize segregation of lead and additives other
than tin to copper-lead alloys have been almost completely abandoned.
For engine bearings an alloy containing 25-30% lead with little or no
tin is most commonly used, but for high loads a rather stronger alloy
with 20-25% lead and 2-4% tin is employed.
Only a limited amount of information has been published on the
modern techniques of lining with copper-lead alloys. For individual
bearing shells two general lining methods are used. In the first, des-
cribed by Blanc,89 the shell is cleaned and preheated, then assembled
round a metal mandrel or refractory core before the copper-lead is
poured in. As an alternative to a core, centrifugal casting may be used.
In either case, the metal is cooled from the bond bywater-sprays directed
528 Forrester: Bearing Matelj',ials
onto the back of the shell. The second, and probably the more important
individual lining method, is the displacement technique,90 in which the
shell is moulded in sand, with a complete cavity left in the bore. This
cavity is filled with molten copper-lead alloy, part of which is then dis-
placed to leave only sufficient metal to form a lining of the required
thickness. Thus, the heating of the shell to bonding temperature
depends on the superheat of the copper-lead. While the process
__ c_o~p_p_er
__ 1 1 L_ea_d _
Fro. 7.-Flow sheet of sintered copper-lead production.

Forrester: Bearing Mate/rials 529
appears crude, it has two considerable advantages. The steel surface
has no opportunity to oxidize during heating to bonding temperature,
and the cooling of the copper-lead is not so strongly directional. With
strongly directional cooling marked planes of weakness can form owing
to segregation of the lead at the solidification face.
For the lining of steel strip for subsequent pressing into bearings,
two processes are used: continuous casting and continuous sinter-
ing. Continuous casting has not, to the author's knowledge, been
described in detail in the literature, although there are references to it in
patents.9l,92 The sintering process has been described in some detail
by Duckworth,93 who considers it in the light of liquid-phase sintering
theory. The process is illustrated by the flow sheet in Fig. 7 and is

essentially as follows. Copper-plated steel strip is coated with a layer
of atomized copper-lead alloy powder; the layer of powder is about twice
as thick as the finished lining required, the exact ratio depending on the
powder bulk density. This loosely spread powder is first sintered in a
reducing atmosphere at 800-900C in a continuous furnace. The first-
sintered material is then compacted by rolling to theoretical density and
again sintered at 800-900C. The second sintering operation anneals
and homogenizes the structure and also establishes completely the
interparticle bonds that have formed during rolling.94 One advantage of
a continuous method is its suitability for the application of quality-
control systems, and such a system as applied to sintered copper-lead
has been described by Forrester and Duckworth.95
Considerable attention has been paid to the structure of copper-lead
alloys. Broadly, three different types of structure. can be obtained:
(a) Continuous lead phase with a discontinuous copper phase. This
can occur in cast alloys with more than ~ 30% lead and in sintered
alloys with more than ~ 450/0 lead.93
(b) Continuous lead phase with a continuous copper phase. In cast
material with strongly directional cooling t.he lead occupies the spaces
between well-marked copper dendrites and is thus more or less con-
tinuous (see Fig. 8, Plate XXXVII). In sintered alloys with up to ~
450/0 lead the copper and the lead form continuous interlocking networks,
as illustrated by the photomicrograph in Fig. 9 (Plate XXXVII).
(c) Continuous copper phase with a discontinuous lead phase. In cast
material that has solidified without markedly directional cooling, some
at least of the lead may form small isolated particles and this tendency
is enhanced by tin, which increases the contact angle between liquid
lead and solid copper.96
It is generally agreed that structure (a) is undesirable, since it is

mechanically weak. Structure (b) is theoretically better than structure
530 Forrester: Bearing 1Y1aterials
(c), since it provides ready access of lead to the surface and, as Tabor 97
has shown, lead can behave as an extreme-pressure lubricant. There
does not, however, appear to be any definite comparative data on the
respective merits of these different structures. It is general experience
that tin, which is added to increase fatigue strength, tends to impair
seizure-resistance 98, 99 but it is not known whether this is due to reduc-
tion in lead continuity or simply to the increased hardness of the alloy.
The mechanical properties of copper-lead alloy depend not only upon
composition and structure, but also upon the manufacturing method.
When copper-lead bearings are formed from strip, there is a considerable
increase in hardness as a result of cold working during pressing. Thus,
the hardness of copper-lead alloys varies from,-.....; 20 DPN for a fully

soft 55% Cu-45% Pb alloy to ,-.....; 70 DPN for a cold-worked Cu 71-
Pb 25-Sn 4% alloy. The results of running tests on vehicles25 show an
increase in journal wear with hardness of alloy, the wear rate being 13
times that of white metal for an alloy of hardness 21 DPN and 22 times
that of white metal for an alloy of hardness 36 DPN. Fatigue strength
is also affected by the same factors. The values given by Duckworth
and Walter15 from Glacier "Viking" fatigue-test results vary from
3000 Ib/in2 for a 60% Cu-40% Pb alloy to 5500 Ib/in2 for a 740/0
Cu-22l% Pb-4% Sn alloy. These figures are respectively 16 and 29
times those obtained for a typical tin-base white metal under the same
conditions. The fatigue strength thus increases in roughly the same
proportion as journal wear, as indicated by the vehicle tests. In view
of this increase in journal wear, it is desirable to use harder journal
materials against copper-lead than are commonly used against white
metal. There are, however, a number of instances of successful use of
relatively soft shafts against copper-lead. It is impracticable to give
any minimum journal hardness figure, since this depends very much on
the application.
Copper-lead alloy is liable to corrosion of the lead phase by
constituents of some oils to an extent that is strongly influenced by
the composition of the OipOO,101and by the operating temperature.
Raymond/02 reports a five-fold increase in corrosion rate with an
increase in temperature from 110 to 127C. All the usual additions to
copper-lead alloy, such as tin, nickel, and silver, form solid solutions
with the copper phase and do not affect the corrosion of the lead, except
insofar as they affect the continuity of the lead phase. Developments
in lubricating oils have reduced the incidence of corrosion troubles in
copper-lead bearings, but instances of corrosion still occur from time to
time. The susceptibility of copper-lead alloy to corrosion was probably
the main factor leading to the introduction of "overlay" bearings,
consisting of a steel-backed copper-lead bearing with an electrodeposited
overlay of a lead-base or tin-base alloy. The properties of various
overlays have been compared by Schaefer.54 The three alloys in general
use are lead-tin, lead-tin-copper, and lead-indium. Schaefer's results
favour lead-tin-copper alloy in respect of both fatigue- and bearing
wear-resistance, lead-tin alloy being the next best. Tests by the
present author's colleagues on the Glacier "Viking" machine have shown
no significant difference between the three, except that lead-tin-
copper alloys appeared to be markedly more liable to seizure than the
two binary alloys, though the reason for this peculiarity could not be
determined. All three overlays must be thinner than,......,0002 in. to
avoid fatigue failure at loads normally applied to copper-lead alloys.

Roach23 and also Baker and Brailey24 showed that the rate of journal
wear in the presence of abrasive particles is of the same order with over-
lays as for white metals. This, of course, is true only so long as the
overlay remains. If the overlay is destroyed by wear or fatigue,
corrosion and wear behaviour then become substantially the same as
for unplated copper-lead alloy. Despite this limitation, the overlay-
plated copper-lead bearing is currently the most widely used high-duty
engine bearing, although, as will be noted later, there are indications
that it will be gradually replaced by steel-backed aluminium alloy
bearings.
VI.-ALUMINIUM-BASE BEARING MATERIALS
Interest in special aluminium alloys as bearing materials dates from

about 1935, when extensive research was started ,in Great Britain, the
United State"s, and Germany. The major stimulus was the desire to
find materials that would have reasonably good bearing properties, carry
considerably higher loads than white metals, and avoid some of the
manufacturing and operating problems of copper-lead alloys. In
Germany, the attempt to avoid the use of tin constituted an additional
incentive. The choice of aluminium for such development work derived
from its position as the next most-readily available metal in the melting-
point scale after tin, lead, and zinc.
Three distinctly different lines of approach were followed, and all
three met with some degree of success, at least in certain fields. The
first, which was exploited particularly in Germany, was an attempt to
produce an alloy with a structure analogous to those of tin-base and lead-
base white metals, or i.e. hard phases in a relatively soft matrix. This
approach was based on a hypothesis of bearing behaviour which, as has
been shown earlier in this review, is probably fallacious, but nevertheless
it resulted in the development of some serviceable alloys. The Quartzal
rtlloys (2-151<> copper), discussed by von Schwartz,103 and the more
complex Alva 36 (containing small amounts of lead, antimony, copper,
manganese, and iron), considered by Vaders,104 are examples of these
alloys. Vaders claimed that Alva 36 would operate at higher pressures
than either white metal or bronze. A considerable number of successful
uses of such alloys are quoted, but there appear to be no quantitative
comparisons between these and more conventional bearing materials
under practical conditions. There are frequent references to the need
for clean oil, hard shafts, avoidance of edge-loading, &c., which tend to
show that such alloys are intolerant of marginal running conditions, and
it is accordingly doubtful if they can properly be classed as true bearing
materials as usually defined. The tendency in Germany to concentrate

on relatively hard alloys containing little or no low-melting-point
constituent has continued, as is instanced by the D.I.N. specifications
quoted and discussed by Weber,105 although an alloy known as K4,
containing 4-6% cadmium, is claimed by Riihenbeck 106to constitute a
good substitute for lead bronze. All these alloys were considered
primarily as solid (i.e. unbacked) bearings, though work on bonding
aluminium bearing alloys to steel by rolling was carried out before the
Second World War.
The second approach, which was pursued both in the United States
and in Great Britain, was to seek an alloy just strong enough to serve as
an unbacked bearing, but containing a proportion of a low-melting-point
constituent to improve its bearing properties. The technical basis for
alloys of this type is fully described by Hunsicker,107 but alloys of the
same general type had earlier been developed in Great Britain by Hives
and Smith. lOS Hunsicker showed that the resistance of aluminium-tin
alloys to "scuffing" is progressively improved by tin additions up to
r--J 25 wt.-%, but the tensile strength, yield strength, and ductility fall off
when tin exceeds r--J 10% because there is a tendency for the tin to form
a continuous phase. This implies a compromise of r--J 5-10% tin. To
obtain the required strength properties other elements were added, and
Hunsicker further states that elements forming a hard constituent im-
prove bearing wear properties and seizure-resistance. This led to the
development of such alloys as Alcoa 750, which nominally contains 6'5%
tin, 1% nickel, 1% copper. Hunsicker points out that when solid
aluminium bearings are assembled in ferrous housings the initial com-
pressive stress due to the usual "interference fit" increases when the
temperature rises, as a result of the relatively high coefficient of
expansion of the aluminium-base alloy. If the alloy has insufficient
yield strength and creep strength at operating temperature to resist this
compressive stress, the bearing shell will yield and on cooling down may
become loose. WOOd,109and later Frank and Lux,110 both report
generally very satisfactory performance from these alloys, but confirm
the existence of difficulties arising from differential expansion. This is
probably the major limitation of solid aluminium bearings and explains
why their use has never become generaL They have, however, met with
considerable success in one American engine in particular, and probably
this is the result of very careful control of fitting conditions, alloy hard-
ness, and surface finish and hardness of the shaft.
The third approach to the use of aluminium alloys has developed
naturally from the recognition of the fundamental problem posed by
differential expansion in ferrous housings. The logical step was to bond
a thin layer of the aluminium alloy to a thicker steel backing, so that the
dimensional behaviour of the whole would be determined largely by the
steeL In addition, the greater yield strength of the steel would ensure
maintenance of interference fit. This development was, however, de-
layed by difficulties experienced in obtaining a reliable bond between
aluminium and steeL When aluminium is cast on to steel, the two react
to form an aluminium-iron alloy compound layer. This layer very
rapidly attains considerable thickness, rendering the bond very brittle.
Methods of avoiding this brittleness are claimed in the patent litera-
ture,l11, 112but none appears to have proved commercially practicable
on any considerable scale.
The formation of a thick, brittle compound layer can be avoided by
adopting a solid-phase welding method, and several rolling processes
have been developed and are in commercial operation. They differ in
the methods used to prepare the steel and aluminium before bonding
and in the rolling temperatures employed. Two processes, both com-
mercially operated, prepare the steel by electroplating, respectively,
with silver113-'-115and with nickel,116 A third process uses aluminium-
clad steel,117 This last process, which has been the subject of develop-
ment work by the Tin Research Institute, is more fully documented
than the others. As described by Ellwood,118 it involves scratch-
brushing of the steel surface, applying scratch-brushed aluminium foil by
cold rolling, hot rolling to ensure a perfect bond, rolling on prepared alu-
minium alloy strip at .-...J 2200, and finally heating to consolidate the
bond and anneal the aluminium alloy. A later development, described by
Goad,119eliminates the aluminizing operation, the initial hardness values
of the steel and aluminium alloy being matched to provide extension
at about the same rate during rolling. In the author's experience this
latter process is rather less satisfactory than the process involving
aluminized steeL A direct-bonding method is also described in a
patent,120
In the United States the alloys used for steel-backed bearings have
generally been similar to those developed for use as solid bearings.
(An exception to this is a special aluminium-silicon-cadmium alloy).
In Great Britain the tendency has been to take full advantage of the
support give by the backing and hence to use softer alloys of high tin
content. To provide an essential basis for work in this field, the alum-
inium-tin diagram was investigated by Sully, Hardy, and Heal.121 It
had previously been noted that alloys with more than,...... 10% tin tended
to be relatively weak and brittle on account of the continuous tin phase
that surrounds the aluminium matrix grains. This structure can, how-
ever, be much improved by cold working followed by annealing to
recrystallize the aluminium, as described by Hardy, Liddiard, Higgs,
and Cuthbertson.122 Alloys so treated have very satisfactory fatigue
Coil of
steel
Aluminium
foil I Alum~um I Copper
and tin
Clean Clean
Surface Surface Cast billet
FIG. 1O.-Flow sheet showing bonding of reticular tin-aluminium alloy to

steel.
Forrester: Bearing Jl;laterials 535
properties.123 After this treatment the tin remains continuous along
grain edges, but not along grain faces, so that a structure is produced in
which both the tin and the aluminium phase are continuous. Bearings
are now in large-scale production by the author's Company, in which an
aluminium-20% tin-l % copper alloy, worked and heat-treated to
provide this structure, is bonded to steel by the process described by
Ellwood1l8 and illustrated by the flow-sheet in Fig. 10. The micro-
structure of the lining alloy is shown in Fig. 11 (Plate XXXVIII).
From the tendency of the tin phase to form a network, these bearings
have been designated reticular tin-aluminium bearings.
Reticular tin-aluminium bearings run well without an overlay. A
chemical-replacement tin flash'"" 000015 in. thick is, however, often

applied to low-tin and other aluminium alloy bearings to assist running-
in. An American type of bearing uses a OOOl-in.lead-tin overlay on an
aluminium-silicon-cadmium alloy bonded to steel.
The performance of aluminium alloys as engine bearing materials will
be considered in more detail in a later section. Briefly, it may be noted
that alloys containing'"" 20% tin appear to offer the best combination of
strength and wear-resisting properties currently available, and accord-
ingly are likely to find increasingly wide application. They can run
quite satisfactorily on unhardened steel journals, although, as with other
materials, journal wear is reduced by nitriding or induction-hardening.
VII.-OTHER BEARINGMETALS
While alloys based on tin, lead, aluminium, and copper are by far the
most important bearing metals, other metals and alloys have been
tested and used, and these will now be considered in order of their
melting point.
1. Oadmium Alloys
Cadmium alloys were used to a considerable extent in the 1930's, and
there are numerous references to them in the literature between 1930
and 1940. The principal alloys were cadmium-copper-silver and
cadmium-nickel, the properties of which are summarized by Gillett,
Russell, and Dayton.5o The use of these has now practically ceased,
probably because their advantage in fatigue strength over tin-base and
lead-base alloys was insufficient to justify the increased cost and the
corrosion problems that arose. They were, in fact, overtaken by copper-
lead and aluminium-base alloys before they could become established.
536 F orreste'J': Bear'ing Materials
2. Zinc Alloys
Zinc alloys clearly merit consideration as bearing materials on account
of their relatively low melting point and hardness and their low cost and
ready availability. They are, indeed, frequently used in lightly loaded
bushes, but evidence as to their suitability for more arduous applications
is conflicting. Von GOler and Sachs49 reported unfavourably on their
performance, but Weber 124 obtained rather more promising results from
a seizure-type test and from wear tests on two zinc-aluminium alloys
with 4 and 10% aluminium, respectively. At low running speeds the
10% alloy was equal to phosphor bronze in seizure-resistance, but showed

much more bearing wear. Recently, interest has been aroused in alloys
with a high aluminium content, e.g., the 30% aluminium, 5% copper
alloy, the development and properties of which are described by
Zemsauer.l25 Zemsauer emphasizes the importance of using high-
purity zinc for this alloy but he does not enlarge on this requirement.
He quotes the results of wear tests which show that at low loads bearing
wear of this alloy is less than that of wrought bronze. It is difficult to
assess the validity of this comparison, as it is not clear whether the test
was made under lubricated or unlubricated conditions, while the com-
position of the wrought bronze is not given nor is there any comparison
with cast bronze, a more usual bearing material. Zemsauer also quotes
practical examples indicating superiority of these alloys over red brass,
but again red brass is not generally regarded as a bearing material. A
recent patentl26 covers zinc alloys containing aluminium 16-29% and
copper 1/10th-l of the aluminium content, with a minimum copper
content of 22%, heat-treated for 2-90 h at 150-275C. It is claimed
that this heat-treatment brings about the formation of a fine eutectoid
structure which improves the emergency running properties of the alloy.
At the same time the hardness of the alloy is said to be considerably
reduced, and it is possible that the improvement in properties claimed is
explained by this reduction in hardness. No comparison with other
alloys is given. On the whole the technical status of zinc alloys as
bearings is shrouded in uncertainty.
3. Silver Alloys
Silver is another material which for a time aroused great interest, but
this has now largely died away. At one period the pure metal was widely
used for aircraft-engine bearings, but owing to its tendency to sudden
seizure it became usual to plate it with lead, and then to protect the lead
from corrosion with a flash of indium.l27, 128 Silver-lead alloys .with
3-5% lead have also been used, and Faust and Thomas129 have des-
F OTrester: Bearing 1l!lateT'ials 537
cribed a method for the electrodeposition of such alloys. The decline of
interest in silver is probably due to the fact that other types of bearing,
such as overlay copper-lead, leaded bronze, and aluminium alloys,
appear to serve at least equally well in practice and are very much
cheaper.
4. Iron Alloys
Iron alloys also merit some mention. Cast iron is, of course, widely
used as a bearing, and it is generally believed that the presence of
graphite is a valuable asset. Sintered, oil-impregnated, porous iron is
chosen for applications in which the load is too high for sintered porous
bronze. The author and his colleagues have experimented with an iron-
lead alloy produced by sintering in the same way as copper-lead.l30
This alloy is potentially stronger than copper-lead alloy, but at this
stage appears unlikely to rival reticular tin-aluminium alloy in its
combination of wear- and fatigue-resisting properties.
VII I.-COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF MATERIALS
The purpose of this section is to give a summarized picture of the

relative performance of different materials in fairly arduous applications
(e.g. internal-combustion engines), in respect of the two most important
properties, viz. fatigue-resistance and shaft wear. The data used have
been selected on the following grounds:
(a) A test that is reasonably analogous to service conditions.
(b) Quantitative expression of results.
(c) Coverage of a reasonable range of materials.
The materials tested include tin-base white metal, which is taken as a

standard to enable valid comparisons to be made between tests under
different conditions.
Adherence to these requirements severely restricts the usable data,
but enough information remains to provide a useful comparison.
Fatigue results are given in Table I, and shaft-wear results in Table
II. The shaft-wear results originally given by Roach23 were expressed
as the factor:
Wear with Durex IOOA* X 100
Wear with material studied
To provide a direct comparison with results obtained from the field
* Although not explicitly stated, this appears to be the same as the :Moraine
100 bearing referred to on p. 524.
538 1!orrester: Bem'iug ~laterials
tests of Duckworth and Forrester,25 Roach's results have been converted
to the factor:
Wear with material studied
Wear with thick tin-base Babbitt
These two investigations have been discussed in Section III.
Considering the fatigue figures in Table I, it will be seen that the results
are in reasonably good agreement between the three tests. Copper-lead
gives roughly twice the fatigue strength of white metal, and this ratio
TABLE I.-Summary of Fatigue Results

Strength
Test Material Fatigue Relative to Ref.
Strength,lb/in2 Tin-Base
White Metal
Laboratory Tin-base white metal 2000* 1

rig 65% Copper-35 % lead
Unbacked aluminium-65%
tin-l % nickel-l % copper
3800*
6100*
19
305
} 107
Underwood Tin-base white metal 800-1500 1

laboratory Cadmium alloys 1200-1500 107
rigt Copper-lead 1500-2500 173
Thin white metal (0003 in.) 2000-4000 26
Copper-lead with tin or silver 37
additions 3000-4000 302
Aluminium alloys 4000-5000 392
Silver 5000 435
Bronzes 10,000 87
-'
Glacier Tin-base white metal (7%
"Viking" antimony-3% copper) 1900 1
laboratory
rig ,
Leadbase white metal (1 % tin-
15% antimony-
arsenic)
1%
1850 0975
1
Lead-lO% tin overlay
(00015 in) on copper-lead 4100 210
Lead-5% indium overlay,
(00015 in) on copper-lead 4100 216 15
70% Copper-30% lead
(sintered) 3400 179
60% Copper-40% lead (sintered) 3000 1'08
74% Copper-22% lead-4%
tin, sintered
Aluminium-20 % tin-l %
5500 290 I
copper (reticular tin-
aluminium)t 4600 242 J
* At 10 7 cycles.
t These results are quoted by Underwood as estimates from a number of tests.
In the relative-strength column, mean values have been taken.
t The fatigue result given relates to the material processed as described by
Hardy et al.122
is slightly increased by the application of a lead-tin or lead-indium

overlay, and further increased by the addition of tin or silver as an
alloying addition. The fatigue strength of aluminium alloys varies
from 2! to 4t times that of white metal, depending on the alloy. Silver
and bronze are estimated by Underwood to give the highest fatigue
values. Underwood's estimate for the white metal seems rather high,
but it may be noted that the exact thickness is not stated.
Turning now to the journal-wear results given in Table II, it will be
seen that the two investigations placed materials in the same order, but
that Roach finds higher ratios than Duckworth and Forrester, possibly
because he used an artificial contaminant, whereas the latter authors
were working with abrasives naturally occurring in engines.
TABLE II.-Summary of Journal-Tl'ear Results
Journal-Wear Rate Compared

Material and Composition with TinBaBe White Metal
RoachlS Duckworth and
ForreBterU
Thick tin-base white metal 1 1

Durex 100A (lead white metal on porous
copper-nickel) 11 -
Copper+OOOI3 in. lead-tin overlay 094 -
70% Copper-30% lead+O'0015 in. lead-tin
overlay - 09
Copper-lead-tin+O'OOI in. lead-tin overlay 162 -
55 % Copper-45 % lead - 17
60% Copper-40% lead 55 -
70% Copper-30% lead 73 22
Aluminium-20% tin-l % copper (reticular tin-
aluminium) - 16
Aluminium-4% silicon-l % cadmium 30 -
Aluminium-65% tin-l5% silicon-l % copper- - 22
05% nickel
Aluminium+O'0008 in. lead-tin overlay 12 -
Taking the fatigue and journal-wear results together, it will be seen

that the best combination of fatigue and wear properties is given by the
copper-lead alloys with overlays and by the aluminium alloys. In
comparing the two, however, it must be remembered that overlays
ultimately tend to wear away, after which the relatively high wear rates
of copper-lead are experienced. The aluminium with overlay also gives
an excellent combination, but presumably a bonding layer of copper or
nickel would be necessary between the overlay and the aluminium, and
this would give a high wear rate if the overlay itself were to wear off.
It should be emphasized that these results are strictly relevant only
to the kinds of bearings typified by internal-combustion-engine bearings,
540 F arrester: Bear'ing Materials
i.e. applications where loads are high and cyclic and where the lubricant
is supplied under pressure but contains abrasive particles.
IX.-BEARING MATERIALS CONSISTING \YHOLLY OR PARTLY OF

NoN-METALLICS
Certain non-metallics have been used for specialized applications for
many years, such as graphite for some unlubricated bearings and lignum
vitre131 or rubber132 for ships' stern tubes, but metals and alloys have
dominated the field. This supremacy of metal is now being challenged

by plastics and plastic/metal combinations. \Yhile a great variety of
synthetic materials are now in use, by far the most important are the
laminated phenolics, which are generally water-cooled and lubricated,
and the materials based on polytetrafluoroethylene (P.T.F.E.), which
are generally used without lubrication.
The manufacture of the laminated phenolics, as described by Caldwell
and Boyd,133 involves coating sheets of paper or fabric with a solution
of phenolic resin, heating to remove the solvent and partly set the resin,
and then pressing the coated sheets together at temperature to bond
them and cure the resin. The resulting products have remarkable
strength properties (up to 40,000 Ib/in2 compressive yield strength),
while their low elastic modulus (6-10 X 105 Ib/in2) provides conform-
ability and embeddability. A low value of boundary friction is also
attributed to them. Their two major applications are for stern-tube
bearings and roll-neck bearings, and in both cases large quantities of
water are required to lubricate them. An investigation 134of the failure
of a number of laminated phenolic stern-tube bearings showed that
charring through inadequate cooling was the cause of breakdown.
Jones,135 who reports very favourably on the economics of laminated
phenolic bearings for rolling mills, also emphasizes the importance of
ensuring an adequate water supply, and quotes a figure of 200 gal/min
for one application. Even momentary failure of water supply can be
catastrophic. The phenolics are little affected by oil, but water causes
them to expand by up to 3 vol.-% and allowance for this expansion
f"'oo.I
may have to be made. The use of water involves the risk of rusting of
the roll-necks when idle but Jones states that this can be overcome by
using dewatering oils. He refers to the power saving resulting from the
use of laminated phenolic roll-neck bearings and this point is also
emphasized by Delmonte,136 in considering the advantages of this type
of bearing. For a full discussion of the merits of the laminated phenolic
resin bearing, the reader is referred to "Roll-Neck Bearings" by Under-
wood.l37
An unusual type of bearing has been described by Gilbert and
Liirenbaum,138in which the journal is wrapped with plastic-impregnated
fabric and run in a plain steel bearing. So far as is known, this develop-
menthas not been pursued.
The first published reference to P.T.F.E. as a bearing material
appears to be by Tait, who in two British patents claims the use of this
material incorporated in a metallic structure.139, 140 The concept
underlying this invention was to utilize the low friction coefficient of
P.T.F.E. (reported by Shooter and Thomas 141),while avoiding the prob-
lems resulting from the mechanical weakness, poor thermal conductivity,
and high coefficient of expansion of the unsupported plastic. Bowden 142
showed that porous copper impregnated with P.T.F.E. had the same low
coefficient of friction as P.T.F.E. itself.
It has been found that bronze as a supporting metal is much superior
to copper, silver, iron, or stainless steel. This was reported by Mitchell
and Burke,143 who stated that bronze impregnated with P.T.F.E.
(known as DP) withstood pressure X velocity conditions of 500Olb/f"oo.I
in 2 X ft/min for more than 1000 h, a considerable advance over previous

dry bearing materials. A fuller treatment of the performance of this
material is given by Mitchell.144 Mitchell showed that for these dry
bearings the parameter PV, in which P is the pressure and V the sliding
speed, allows a valid comparison between materials, at least over a part
of their operating range. (This is in contrast to fluid-lubricated bearings
for which, as shown on p. 511, PV is not a useful parameter). PV is
commonly expressed in the units lb/in 2 X ft/min. Mitchell further
showed that over a considerable range of pressure and sliding speed the
life (H) was dependent on the product PV, and that at high PV values
the results obtained on test machines were consistent with the theoreti-
cally expected relationship:
PVH = K, where K is a constant for a material.
At low PV values, however, reduction in PV brought about a dispro-
portionate increase in life, the approximate empirical relationship being
PVHi=K'.
A further paper by Mitchell 145 gives results showing that the performance
of P. T.F .E.-impregnated bronze can be greatly improved by the
incorporation of molybdenum disulphide or lead, lead being the more
effective. His results tended to indicate that the life was dependent on
PN (pressure X rotational speed) rather than on PV, but later results 146
have shown that life is in fact related to the product PV. The addition
of lead increases the permissible PV for a given life by a factor of > 3.
Bearings consisting of steel-backed porous bronze impregnated with
38-IILR. xx
542 Forrester: Bearing ll!laterials
P.T.F.E. and containing lead are now in large-scale production, and are
finding widespread use in many applications where a lubricant is
undesirable or ineffective, and in others where the elimination of oiling
or greasing is a great convenience. Typical applications are in textile,
paper, food and tobacco machinery, baking ovens, steering king-pin
bus4es, and aircraft control mechanisms. A photomicrograph of this
material is shown in Fig. 12 (Plate XXXVIII), the main features of
which are the steel backing (unetched), the porous bronze (white), and
the impregnant of P.T.F.E./lead (black).
Concurrently with the development of this metal/plastic bearing,
increasing attention was being paid to bearings consisting entirely or
mainly of plastic, and here again interest came to centre largely on

P.T.F.E., nylon being next in importance." Shooter and Thomas141
examined the friction properties of P.T.F.E., polyethylene, polystyrene,
and Perspex, obtaining room-temperature values against steel of 004,
015, 03, and 05, respectively, for the coefficient of friction. They
attribute the low friction of P.T.F.E. to the screening of the positive
charge on the carbon atom by the comparatively large fluorine atom, a
ch~"racteristic previously pointed out by Hanford and Joyce.147 In
polyethylene, screening by the smaller hydrogen atom would be less
effective, while the aromatic groups in polystyrene and the polar groups
in Perspex would tend to increase molecular adhesion. This conclusion
is supported by the evidence of Bowers, Clinton, and Zisman,148 who
sho~ved that the friction of P.T.F.E. is increased when hydrogen or
chlorine atoms replace the fluorine atoms stage by stage. They quote
01 as the coefficient of friction ,of P.T.F.E., as compared with 004 given
by Shooter and Thomas. Rabinowicz and Shooter149 examined the
sliding of metals on plastics and claimed to demonstrate by auto-
radiography that metal is transferred to the plastic during sliding,
implying that the plastic can pluck metal from the surface. The extent
of the transfer was substantially independent of the nature of the plastic.
No details are given of the manner of preparation of the metal surface,
and it may be that the metal transferred was loosely adherent debris
left by some mechanical finishing process. The coefficient of friction of
numerous plastics was also determined by Milz and Sargent,150 who
gave 009-021 for P.T.F.E. The discrepancies in friction coefficient
for P.T.F.E. given by various investigators are probably explained by
different speeds of testing. Cheney, Happoldt, and Swayne151 found
that the value increased from f'J 004 to
f'J 02 with increase in rubbing
speed from 02 to 367 ft/min.
There appears to be little justification for the preoccupation with
friction coefficient shown by many investigators in considering the bear-
ing potentialities of P.T.F.E.~and other plastics, except possibly that the
Forrester: Bearing 111aterials 543
coefficient is relatively easy to measure! In general, the wear rate under
given load/speed conditions is a much more important property from the
practical point of view, and friction and wear rate are by no means
correlated. In general with plastic-based dry bearings wear is largely
confined to the material itself, the journal being unaffected, so in this
discussion of wear properties bearing wear only is considered. Cheney,
Happoldt, and Swayne151 refer to the improvement in bearing wear-
resistance of P.T.F.E. brought about by the addition of fillers, such as
glass fibre and graphite, but in comparing P.T.F.E. and nylon they do
not mention comparative wear. In fact, as will be shown later, the
wear-resisting properties of pure P.T.F.E. are by no means good, though

they can be much improved by the use of fillers. Rickling and Miller,152
White,153 and Twiss, 'Vilson, and Snyder,154 all examined the role of
fillers in improving mechanical properties. Mitchell and Pratt155
showed that fillers can have a profound effect on bearing wear properties,
certain additives reducing wear rate to as little as 0'14% of that experi-
enced with pure P.T.F.E. It is interesting to note that while metals
and alloys in general proved to be of limited value as fillers, tin bronze
was the best single filler of all those tried, including metals, alloys, solid
lubricants, and ceramics.
X.-RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF DRY BEARING MATERIALS
The designer who wants to use a bearing needs to know the load/speed
conditions that can be sustained in a given environment without
catastrophic failure and the rate of wear to expect under the specified
conditions, or, to put it another way, the anticipated life before a given
degree of wear is exceeded. For plain lubricated bearings the difficulty
arises that lubrication factors (quantity and quality of supply of lubri-
cant, &c.) playa major part. With dry bearings, however, this difficulty
does not exist, and it is therefore practicable to quote permissible load/
speed conditions and wear rates under stated conditions which should be
reasonably comparative.
Nevertheless, much of the literature on dry bearings seems to be
deliberately designed to avoid providing this information. For
example, permissible loads are given without reference to speed, and the
results of wear tests are quoted without stating the duration of the test.
This does not simplify the task of the designer, or that of the reviewer,
who has found it impossible to interpret and compare the published data
in any meaningful way. Probably the most useful comparative infor-
mation is that given by Mitchell,145who summarizes the results of a
series of tests carried out on thrust washers operating at a PV of 20,000
544 For1'ester: Bearng Materials
Ib/in2 x it/min, and terminated either at 1000 h or when wear reached
a value between 0005 and 0010 in. This information is reproduced in
Table III. It should, however, be noted that the test conditions :were
very severe for certain of the materials, which might be expected to give
a disproportionately longer life under less stringent conditions. For
example, nylon failed after 03 h, whereas Cheney, Happoldt, and
Swayne 151report satisfactory continuous performance of nylon at a PV
of 500-1000 and satisfactory intermittent performance at a PV of 3000.
TABLE IlL-Comparative l'hrust Washer Performance of Some Bearing

III aterials (M itch~1l145)

Operating at a PV of 20,000 Ib/in2 X ft/min. No lubricant added.
Me~D Time
Type of Material of Testing. h Re.lSODf,)r Stopping
"DU" (20% Pb, 80% P.T.F.E. in porous

bronze) 1000 1000 h rea,ched
"DP" (100% P.T.F.E. in porous bronze) 213 0005 in. wear
Graphite and lead bronze 158 0010 in. wear
P.T.F.E.+25% graphite 134 0005 in. wear
Oil-impregnated porous bronze 105 0010 in. wear
Phenolic resin + MoS2 73 0005 in. wear
P.T.F.E.+25% glass fibre 48 0005 in. wear
MoS2-treated steel 26 Seizure of specimen
and sleeve
Graphite (bearing grade) 24 0005 in. wear
Porous bronze+25% MoS2 17 0005 in. wear
Asbestos+rcsin+MoS2 08 0005 in. wear
Nylon 03 0010 in. wear
They further report considerable improvement in the permissible PV of

nylon when initially lubricated.
The performance of the P.T.F.E.-containing materials developed and
tested by Mitchell and his collaborators is much more fully documented
than that of other dry bearing materials,143-145, 155,156the effects of a
number of variables important in practice having been investigated.
The use of plastics and plastic/metal composites as dry bearings is
expanding rapidly, and this trend is likely to continue for some time.
Apart from the specialized use of the laminated phenolics: their value in
lubricated bearings remains to be established, as they possess obvious
advantages (lightness, softness, wear-resistance) and obvious disadvant-
ages (low thermal conductivity, dimensional instability). In the author's
opinion, their use in lubricated bearings will extend, though not so
rapidly as in dry bearings.
Forrester: Bearing 111aterials 545
XL-CONCLUSION
The author regrets that in this review so many hypotheses have been
described as untested, so many materials referred to as of uncertain
value, and so many questions left unanswered. This is, in his view, a
fair picture of the present state of affairs. Our basic knowledge of the
behaviour of sliding surfaces now rests on firm foundations, well laid by
ingenious and reliable work from a number of sources. Unfortunately,
the available information concerning the actual performance in service
of different materials and their comparative usefulness is by no means
always so reliable. Much of the published information is a matter of
opinion rather than of scientific data. Many investigators have neither

added to our fundamental knowledge nor afforded practically useful
comparisons between materials. To assist in. ending this unsatis-
factory state of affairs, to which he has doubtless contributed his share,
the author concludes with a plea for more standardized and significant
testing of bearing materials and more informative presentation of the
results obtained therefrom .. In particular, he would like to propose
that tests designed to assess and compare bearing materials should meet
the following requirements:
(1) Test methods and criteria should bear a reasonable relationship to
the circumstances and requirements of practice.
(2) Materials should be compared with a practical standard, such as
tin-base white metal, phosphor-bronze, or pure P.T.F.E.
(3) All relevant data on test conditions should be reported.
Adherence to these principles would greatly accelerate the progress of
bearing-material technology and simplify the task of designers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to express his thanks to the Directors of the Glacier
Metal Company for permission to publish this review, and in particular,
some hitherto unpublished information. He also desires to thank his
colleagues for their help in its preparation, and Mr. C. J. Faulkner, of the
Tin Research Institute, and Mr. B. Fullman of the British Non-Ferrous
Metals Research Association, for considerable help with references.
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59. P. G. Forrester, ibid., 1959, 59,249.

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65. J. B. Mohler, Foundry, 1954, 82, (12), 102.
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Metallurgical Reviews

ISSN: 0076-6690 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yimr17

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I.-FORMS OF PLAIN BEARINGS

THE term bearing material is generally used to describe the special

transmitted between relatively moving parts by sliding contact and

n.-FUNCTION OF A BEARING MATERIAL

In general, the main criterion of satisfactory performance of a bearing

is minimum wear of the two component parts, combined with freedom

IlL-REQUIREMENTS AND TESTING OF BEARING MATERIALS

The requirements of a lubricated bearing material are, broadly, a low

ment techniques are thus available.

The minimum value of ZN /P for a given design of bearing changes

and on temperature rise in bearings.23 When his results are plotted to

mean a causal relationship. If it is assumed that the surface temper-

FIG. I.-Relationship between (dw/dt)/v'ms and HA3/F. Single vehicle tests.

Other possible interpretations of Lunn's results on white metals have

the wear and anti-seizure properties of lubricated bearing materials, nor

4. The Hardness/Fatigue Strength Oompromise

effect of this is to reduce the rate of wear caused by abrasive particles

Tin-base alloys usually contain up to t'.J 14% antimony and up to

Lead-base bearing alloys generally contain antimony, tin, and copper

or other movement during solidification, copper has no influence on

[Courtesy Institution of lI:fechanical Engineers.

FIG. 6.-Effect of lining thickness on the fatigue strength'of steel-backed tin-base

due to Schaefer,54 who, using "the Underwood machine, demonstrated

Shells may be prepared either by chemical (pickling) or mechanical

therch's62 experiments have shown, but it is a very convenient way of

Centrifugal casting promotes a good bond and a sound lining, though

with a lead-base white metal, leaving a layer on the surface which is

4. Applications of White-Metal Bearings

FI(:. i.-ScC'tion of tin-ha,se bearing Illetal containing 70 a.ntinlon." and :~1o

Fig,.:.2,3,;;' 8, n, I]. antl12 arc reproduced by courte,.:y IIfThc Glacicr:\1etaICo .. Ltd.

.FlO. D.-Sintcrcd coppC'r-lead allo,'" sho\\jng intC'rlocking nC't\\'()rks of ('oppel' ancl

investigation of, or even published discussion on, the merits of these

discusses the effect of practical operating conditions, and especially of

problems arise in manufacturing such bearings. These problems have

Fro. 7.-Flow sheet of sintered copper-lead production.

theory. The process is illustrated by the flow sheet in Fig. 7 and is

It is generally agreed that structure (a) is undesirable, since it is

the hardness of copper-lead alloys varies from,-.....; 20 DPN for a fully

avoid fatigue failure at loads normally applied to copper-lead alloys.

VI.-ALUMINIUM-BASE BEARING MATERIALS

Interest in special aluminium alloys as bearing materials dates from

materials as usually defined. The tendency in Germany to concentrate

FIG. 1O.-Flow sheet showing bonding of reticular tin-aluminium alloy to

chemical-replacement tin flash'"" 000015 in. thick is, however, often

10% alloy was equal to phosphor bronze in seizure-resistance, but showed

VII I.-COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF MATERIALS

The purpose of this section is to give a summarized picture of the

The materials tested include tin-base white metal, which is taken as a

TABLE I.-Summary of Fatigue Results

Laboratory Tin-base white metal 2000* 1

Underwood Tin-base white metal 800-1500 1

is slightly increased by the application of a lead-tin or lead-indium

were working with abrasives naturally occurring in engines.

TABLE II.-Summary of Journal-Tl'ear Results