A Billion Engine Hours On Aluminum Bearings

HIGH load-carrying ability and fatigue strength, good embeddabiltty and conformability, and resistance to wear, seizure, and corrosion are factors that sold them on aluminum for bearings, the authors report.

Bonded steel backing, they say, makes aluminum bearings even better. Retaining aluminum's good properties, it improves some of its bad points and gives such advantages as:

• Reduced bearing clearances, compared with those used with solid-aluminum bearings.
• No life limit in operation below 5000 psi fatigue stress value.
• Less sensitivity to high oil temperatures.
• Negligible wear (after 29,000 hr in one test).
• Simpler and less expensive bearing-locating designs.
• Special excellence for high-load, high-speed applications.