Properties of Engine Bearings Lubricated with Low HTHS Viscosity Oil

Properties of engine bearings were investigated with different bearing materials and different HTHS viscosity oils by means of both an engine test and a rig test.

The rig test well simulated the bearing wear which occurred in the engine test. Lead-bronze bearings with lead-tin-indium overlay gave the least amount of wear in operating under high speed and heavy load conditions even with low HTHS viscosity oil. Aluminum bearings without overlay gave good wear resistance in the case of no seizure occurrence. The wear amount of bearings were well correlated with HTHS viscosity, not with kinematic viscosity.