PM Bearing Material for Inferior Fuels

As automotive supply continues to become increasingly global, new challenges continue to present themselves. For example, fuel standards that vary internationally can cause failures in well-established fuel system designs when the design is introduced to developing markets. The relatively high sulfur content that is present in many nations is enough to cause corrosion (sulfuration) of bronze components that are common in fuel pumps. A copper-nickel (cupronickel) alloy has been developed that has excellent resistance to corrosion related to inferior fuels. It also performs well as a bearing material, is resistant to wear, and is not aggressive to the shaft. The development of this new powdered metal alloy included optimization of additives to achieve these objectives. A chief benefit of this solution is that it can be used as a drop in replacement of existing powdered metal bronze bearings, yielding similar dimensional stability, product life, and running characteristics, even in high sulfur fuels.