Patent ID: 6163961
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: F16C,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing a multilayer plain bearing having an overlay, the bearing comprising a hard backing layer, a bearing alloy substrate layer bonded to the hard backing layer and an overlay layer bonded to the bearing alloy substrate layer, said overlay layer being soft relative to the bearing alloy substrate layer, the method comprising the steps of:(a) providing separate strips of said backing layer, bearing alloy substrate and overlay layers, said overlay layer comprising an aluminum-tin alloy having from 15 to 50 wt % of tin therein;(b) pressure bonding said bearing alloy substrate layer and overlay layer together to form a first composite material;(c) heat treating said first composite material at a temperature such as cause annealing and stress relieving of said first composite material;(d) pressure bonding said heat treated first composite material to said hard backing layer such that the bearing alloy substrate layer is adjacent the backing layer to form a second composite material;(e) heat treating said second composite material at a temperature such as to cause reticulation of said aluminum-tin alloy overlay layer; and(f) machining the surface of said overlay layer in said second composite material to achieve a desired thickness of said overlay layer in said plan bearing.