Abstract
Aluminium-based plain bearings for gasoline internal combustion engines are traditionally manufactured by casting and rolling, followed by forming and boring. The application places severe demands on the bearing material and a combination of properties such as fatigue, seizure and wear resistance are required. These properties are achieved by using a multi-phase material comprising of a distribution of tin in an aluminium alloy matrix. HVOF has been investigated as an alternative process for bearing manufacture and as a route to producing novel bearing materials with microstructures that cannot be achieved using the conventional casting route. The work reported describes the use of different HVOF spraying systems and powder types to develop aluminium-tin based coatings for advanced bearing applications. The coatings are described in terms of microstructure characteristics. The fatigue performance of the advanced sprayed bearings is compared with conventional cast bearings.
