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Composite bearings of PTFE as the base material have been widely used for automotive parts. However, in recent years, due to downsizing, faster sliding speeds, and tendency to increase the bearing load with high performance, particularly for boundary lubrication conditions, the PTFE-based composite bearing is often worn, making it difficult to apply to some applications. A high strength polymer was selected as an alternative to PTFE base material, and the mechanical properties and performance in a start-stop test, reciprocating sliding test and seizure test were evaluated. Focusing on the characteristics of high strength, by applying a PEEK resin, in each evaluation, it was confirmed that superior performance was achieved compared with a conventional PTFE based composite bearing. Presenter Yohei Takada, Daido Metal Co., Ltd.

Recently, automotive engines have been operating under harsh conditions of high-power, low viscosity oil and increase of start-stop (e.g. idling stop). In plain bearing used within engine, as oil film thickness decreases, the frequency of direct contacts on the sliding surfaces between the shaft and the bearing are gradually increasing. In fact, the plain bearings for engines would tend to be used under mixed lubrication and the contacts of the surface roughness asperities sometimes occur between the shaft and the bearing. As a result, the bearing wear on the sliding surfaces is accelerated by the contacts of the roughness asperities. In order to predict the bearing performance exactly, it is very important to understand the change progress of the geometric shape of sliding surfaces caused by the wear.

As the recent automotive engines are designed for higher performance, the rotating speed of the engines have been increased drastically. Therefore the engine bearings should be further improved to have better anti-seizure and wear properties under the high temperature at the high rotating speed. The authors have analyzed the necessary functions of the three layers copper-lead bearings at such operating conditions, and then improved and developed the overlay and the copper based bearing alloy with steel back. Physical and chemical properties for this new bearing were studied. Then the bearing performance tests were carried out including the high speed seizure tests and engine tests. From these test results, it was confirmed that this new bearing could be applied for the recent very high speed automotive engines.

Reducing friction in the crankshaft main bearings is an effective means of improving the fuel efficiency of reciprocating internal combustion engines. To realize these improvements, it is necessary to understand the lubricating conditions, in particular the oil film pressure distributions between crankshaft and bearings. In this study, we developed a thin-film pressure sensor and applied it to the measurement of engine main bearing oil film pressure in a 4-cylinder, 2.5 L gasoline engine. This thin-film sensor is applied directly to the bearing surface by sputtering, allowing for measurement of oil film pressure without changing the shape and rigidity of the bearing. Moreover, the sensor material and shape were optimized to minimize influence from strain and temperature on the oil film pressure measurement. Measurements were performed at the No. 2 and 5 main bearings.

Achieving a multi-cylinder engine with excellent noise/vibration character sties and low friction at the main bearings requires an optimal design not only for the crankshaft construction but also for the bearing support system of the cylinder block. To accomplish that, it is necessary to understand crankshaft system behavior and the bearing load distribution for each of the main bearings. Crankshaft system behavior has traditionally been evaluated experimentally because of the difficulty in performing calculations to predict resonance behavior over the entire engine speed range. A coupled crankshaft-block analysis method has been developed to calculate crankshaft system behavior by treating vibration and lubrication in a systematic manner. This method has the feature that the coupled behavior of the crankshaft and the cylinder block is analyzed by means of main bearing lubrication calculations. This paper presents the results obtained with this method.

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.

Improving the durability and reliability of crankshaft bearings has become an important issue for automotive engines recently because of conflicting demands for lower fuel consumption and higher power output. This study focused on the connecting rod big-end bearing which is subjected to harsher operating conditions on account of these requirements. It is known that the crank pin journal temperature is an indicator of big-end bearing seizure. Having a simple method for predicting the crank pin journal temperature with the required accuracy at the design stage is indispensable to efficient engine development. In this study, analyses were first conducted to determine the oil flow rate at the big-end bearing which is a major determinant of the crank pin journal temperature.

A newly developed bearing is a lead-free aluminum alloy bearing with low frictional layer which consists of molybdenum disulfide in thicknesses of sub-micron levels on the bearing surface without required binders such as resin. The new bearing had a 50% lower static friction coefficient compared to the conventional aluminum alloy bearing, and exhibited comparable anti-seizure property and fatigue strength to the conventional bearing by evaluation of rig tests. These rig tests verified that the new bearing showed excellent frictional reduction properties. This paper describes details and performances of this newly developed bearing.

Research is under way on an engine system [1] that achieves a variable compression ratio using a multiple-link mechanism between the crankshaft and pistons for the dual purpose of improving fuel economy and power output. At present, there is no database that allows direct judgment of the feasibility of the specific sliding parts in this mechanism. In this paper, the feasibility was examined by making a comparison with the sliding characteristics and material properties of conventional engine parts, for which databases exist, and using evaluation parameters based on mixed elasto-hydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication calculations. In addition, the innovations made to the mixed EHD calculation method used in this study to facilitate calculations under various lubrication conditions are also explained, including the treatment of surface roughness, wear progress and stiffness around the bearings.

A new environmental friendly method to supply metalworking fluid called Oil on Water Drop is proposed. In this study, the obtained results using this new method are compared to the dry cutting one in the machining of oil grooves in engine bearings. Conventional machining of engine bearings is carried out in the dry cutting condition; however, it was found that using the new Oil on Water Drop method the machining performances were greatly improved. In terms of machining tool life, a twofold increase was obtained, while an improvement in the machining error led to a considerable reduction in the rejection of parts made in the production line.

Recently, the bearing performances have been analyzed by elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory (EHL). However, the oil film temperature is constant within a bearing clearance on this theory. As modern automotive engines are running at high rotational speed, the change of the oil film temperature is remarkable within a bearing clearance. The bearing performances are influenced by the distribution of the oil film temperature. Therefore it is also necessary for the analysis of the bearing performances to consider the effect of the oil film temperature distribution by thermo elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory (TEHL). In this study, the effects of the bearing performances are investigated on connecting rod bearing in general gasoline engine by TEHL. Furthermore, oil film thickness, oil film pressure and oil film temperature of TEHL results are compared with those of EHL.

As the recent engines are designed for higher performance and better efficiency, three layers bearings must endure under heavy dynamic load and higher speed conditions. And it is also expected to develop the bearing without lead due to environmental concerns. In this report, a lead free copper based bearing alloy was studied. At first, in order to keep the anti-seizure property without lead, we studied the effects of bismuth and molybdenum carbide particles addition into the copper based bearing alloy. Secondly, we studied the influence of axial bearing relief to keep a conformability under high load condition.

As the downsizing and lightening of the engine are designed, the compact and lightweight of the housing should be required. Therefore, both the engine bearing and the housing are greatly deformed under the severe condition, and a heat generation due to the friction loss increases in the bearings. In this study, on the connecting rod bearing for the automotive engine, the bearing design factors as the oil inlet temperature, the rotational speed, the bearing clearance and the bearing length, are changed as a parameter. The influences of the design factors for the performance of the connecting rod bearing are investigated by using TEHL analysis (Thermo ElastoHydrodynamic Lubrication theory analysis).

The number of vehicles with engines using idling stop systems and hybrid systems to improve fuel consumption has recently been increasing. However, with such systems the frequent starts and stops of the engine, where the oil film between the bearings and shaft is squeezed out and direct contact between the components is more likely, can result in increased wear of the engine bearings, particularly in the main bearing. Bearings with resin overlays have been shown to display superior resistance to wear from such start-stop cycles. Moreover, cast iron shafts without quenching treatment have also been used in engines for cost reduction. Because the cast shaft has low hardness and unstable surface graphite after abrasive finishing, increase in the wear amount cannot be suppressed by conventional resin overlay in comparison with steel shaft. Therefore, the resin overlay with improved wear resistance achieved by adding hard particles was developed.

Composite bearings of PTFE as the base material have been widely used for automotive parts. However, in recent years, due to downsizing, faster sliding speeds, and tendency to increase the bearing load with high performance, particularly for boundary lubrication conditions, the PTFE-based composite bearing is often worn, making it difficult to apply to some applications. A high strength polymer was selected as an alternative to PTFE base material, and the mechanical properties and performance in a start-stop test, reciprocating sliding test and seizure test were evaluated. Focusing on the characteristics of high strength, by applying a PEEK resin, in each evaluation, it was confirmed that superior performance was achieved compared with a conventional PTFE based composite bearing.

With increased awareness of environmental issues and regulations, developments for recent automotive engines are progressing towards engines with low fuel consumption. Due to these changes, automotive engine bearings are increasingly used in harsher environments, with higher loading and corresponding wear. From this background, resin overlays, where solid lubricant is dispersed in a resin binder, are being developed. Resin overlays show excellent sliding properties under boundary lubrication conditions, and are known to have superior wear and fatigue resistance compared with conventional aluminium based bearings. However, while conventional resin overlay bearings display excellent sliding properties, they tend to have inferior seizure resistance compared to Al-Sn-Si alloy bearings. In this study, by optimizing the strength of the resin overlay layer with addition of calcium carbonate particles, a resin overlay with equal wear resistance but improved seizure resistance was developed.

Nissan has added ball bearings to its “High-flow Ceramic Turbocharger”(1) (introduced in 1987) to improve acceleration response by reducing friction loss. The following programs were carried out in applying ball bearings to the turbocharger: Optimum bearing size and material were selected to assure long life; lubrication techniques were employed to achieve compatibility between acceleration response and durability; a thrust support system was designed to assure that the ball bearings endure thrust load which varies in direction and magnitude during engine operation; and the squeeze film damper was optimized to keep the turbocharger silent. These innovations have resulted in a practical ball-bearing turbocharger, which has been installed in Nissan's most recent Skyline model(released in May 1989). This is the first time a ball-bearing turbocharger has been applied to a passenger car.

The recent trend toward the compact and light-weight construction of diesel engines with high power output has been imposing higher requirements of fatigue strength and antiseizure characteristics on bearings. In order to meet these requirements, the authors developed a new bearing alloy of higher fatigue strength for use in heavy load engines, through the analysis of the Al-Zn-Si alloy which has high corrosion resistance. Experimental results of this new alloy to study its physical properties and bearing performances indicate that it can be applied to bearings in diesel engines which operate in harsh conditions.

A sintered aluminum-lead alloy of the bimetal type was manufactured in Japan (1977), and has been widely used in main and crankpin bearings for automobile engines. However, the recent trend of automobile engines toward high power output, light-weight and compact construction increases the bearing load. As a result, the margin of fatigue strength of the conventional sintered aluminum-lead alloy has been diminishing. In this paper, a new method of manufacturing bearing material by the hot extrusion process is reported. The new method makes it possible to produce the optimum lead grain distribution and strong adhesion between powder particles. The new manufacturing method produces the aluminum-lead bearing material which has 30% or more increase in fatigue strength over the conventional sintered aluminum-lead bearing material.

Resin-based overlays as lead-free bearing materials for automobile engines are experimentally studied using tribology testing apparatus and an engine bench test rig. A resin overlay newly proposed is composed of Polybenzimidazole (PBI) as the base resin and solid lubricant Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as an additive. PBI has high temperature performance and good adhesion and physical strength under higher temperatures. Consequently, a PBI-based overlay has good sliding properties in terms of wear resistance and fatigue resistance. The resin overlay shows applicability to automobile engine bearings which are used under high loads.