BEARING PROPERTIES

Brass and Bronze casting alloys are the standard materials for many bearing applications. Properly specified and designed, copper alloy bearings are resistant to deformation, are long~ wearing. and in some cases are able to operate for long periods without lubrication. The copper alloy bearing materia1s are easy to machine within the close toJerances required of modern pre­cision bearing design.
The leaded bronzes are traditional for bearings. They offer the vaJuable combination of soft lead embedded in a harder copper-tin matrix. The lead in these aUoys improves seating qualities, acts as a temporary self-lubricant in case of lubrica­tion failure, and has the quality of embeddability which may save an expensive shaft from scoring because of the presence of abrasive materials.
There are leaded bronze alloys operating successfully in al­most every type of bearing application. As examples: 83-7-7-3

Federated MetaUurgical Engineers wilL be pletMed to help you choose the correct copper alloy for your bearing application.

Other important bronze bearing alloys are the copper-tin al­loys containing tin in quantities of from 6 to 20 percent. These alloys aro characterized by their unusually high compression strength but should be used only where the design provides for adequate lubrication.
A third important class of brOnze beariDg materials is the. aluminum bronze; which ate able to withstand exceptionally high loads and high speeds and which perform well in difficult sliding operations. Aluminum- bronze bearings must be ade­quately and consistently lubricated.