Maintenance Engineering Certificate Course

By Career Guidance Cell (CGC)

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
College of Engineering and Computer Science
 Plain Bearings

• Plain bearings use sliding friction and

are quieter than anti-friction
bearings.

• Applications for plain bearings

include rotating and linear.

• A shaft spinning in a hole is a simple

bearing constraining rotation, while
a sliding drawer is linear.

• General purpose plain bearings are

used for heavy load, low speed
applications.
 Plain Bearings

• Plain metal bearings are

employed in steam
turbines, large marine
two-stroke vessels, and
practically all internal
combustion (IC) engines
because they may be
mounted in two or more
sections.
 PREVENTIVE
MAINTENANCE

Lubricant Supply.

• Proper bearing design and material are necessary to

achieve long service life but are not by themselves
sufficient.
• The lubricant is the key component of the system which
determines bearing life.
• A sleeve bearing is provided with an adequate flow of the
proper clean lubricant, long life should be realized.
 PREVENTIVE
MAINTENANCE

Lubricant Supply.
• Proper bearing design and material are necessary to
achieve long service life but are not by themselves
sufficient.
• The lubricant is the key component of the system which
determines bearing life.
• A sleeve bearing is provided with an adequate flow of the
proper clean lubricant, long life should be realized.
• Low oil pressure – Worn out surfaces
• High pressure – Blockage or restriction
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Cleanliness.

• Due to the thin layer thickness, oil-borne

particles might exacerbate wear.
• Large amounts of metal chips and abrasives
can cause bearing failure quickly.
• Changing the oil according to the equipment
manufacturer's instructions is crucial.
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Lubricant Type.

• Lubricant viscosity is the most crucial metric

for bearing performance.
• Thinner oils with lower viscosity minimize oil
film thickness.
• This increases wear and may cause failure.
• Following the equipment manufacturer's
lubrication recommendations is crucial.
BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Surface Action.

Sometimes referred to as slipperiness or

compatibility, surface action is the ability of a
material to resist seizure when contacted by
the shaft.

Contact takes place every time the equipment

is started or stopped and can also occur during
momentary overloads.
BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Embeddability.

• The ability of a material to absorb foreign

particles circulating in the oil stream is
referred to as embeddability.

• Some particles will go unfiltered, so the

material must be soft enough to ingest them.
BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Conformability.

• The material also must be soft enough to

creep or flow slightly to compensate for the
minor geometric irregularities which are
present in every assembly.

• These include misalignment, out-of-round,

and taper.
BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Fatigue Strength.

• This is the ability of a bearing material to

withstand the fatigue loads to which it is
subjected without cracking.

• Bearings should not undergo fatigue failure

prior to the normally scheduled overhaul.
 BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Temperature Strength.

• As operating temperatures increase, bearing

materials tend to lose strength.

• This property indicates how well a material

carries a load at elevated temperatures,
without breaking up or flowing out of shape

https://www.epowermetals.com/bearing-temperature-too-high-is-dangerous-these-tips-teach-you-to-cool-the-bearings.html
 BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Thermal Conductivity.

• Shear of the oil film by the shaft generates

significant heat, most of which is carried
away by the oil.
• Nevertheless, it is important for the bearing
to transfer heat rapidly from its surface
through its back to avoid overheating and
resultant reduction in life.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1569
190X20300678
BEARING MATERIALS-Requirements
Corrosion Resistance.

• Oils oxidize with use, and the products of

this degradation can be corrosive.
• Blow by products and fuel or coolant
contamination of the oil also promote a
corrosive environment.
• Bearing materials should be resistant to
these effects

https://www.gbbearings.co.za/Damage04.html
BEARING Construction
Monometals.

• Bearings made from a solid bar or tubes of an

aluminum or bronze alloy have been
available for a number of years. They are
generally used where loads are not very
high.

• In order to have the same rigidity as a

bearing with steel back and to avoid yielding
at operating temperature, they are made
with a comparatively thick wall. As a result,
they require a larger housing bore.
BEARING Construction
Bimetals.
• A bimetal bearing has a steel back, to which
is bonded a liner of Babbitt, copper-lead, or
aluminum. Babbitts are soft alloys of lead or
tin, with additives such as copper, antimony,
and arsenic. They have outstanding
embeddability, conformability, and surface
action but relatively low fatigue strength.

• Copper-lead and aluminum are harder than

Babbitt and have much better strength, but
at a sacrifice of the other properties.
BEARING Construction
Trimetals.
• In order to achieve the desirable surface
properties tri-metal bearing was developed
for heavy-duty applications.
• In this construction, a thin (usually about
0.001-in) layer of a soft material is either
electroplated or cast onto the copper-lead or
aluminum layer of a bimetal.
• The surface layer (overlay) imparts the
desired “soft” properties to the bearing;
however, because it is so thin, it derives
improved fatigue strength from the
intermediate layer; that is, it is much
stronger than a thick layer of the same soft
alloy.
ELECTROPLATING
BEARING Construction
Bearing Alloys.
BEARING Construction
Design.
There are two types of insert
bearings: precision and
resizable. The former is made
to precise tolerances and can
be installed without
modification. A resizable part
is manufactured with an extra
thick layer of bearing
material on the inside
diameter (ID). This permits
machining to any desired size.

A sampling of bearings, bushings, and

thrust washers.
BEARING Construction
Design.

In order to keep a bearing from shifting

sideways during installation and to ensure that
its axial position is correct a locating lug is
formed at the parting line
BEARING Construction
Design.

Bearings are manufactured so that they are slightly longer

circumferentially than their mating housings. Upon installation,
this excess length is elastically deformed (“crushed”), which
sets up a high radial contact pressure between the bearing and
housing
BEARING Construction
Design.
BEARING Construction
Lubrication.
Many bearings receive their oil supply through holes drilled in
the housing.

Often a hole cannot adequately distribute oil to the loaded area

of the bearing because the clearance space offers too much
resistance to flow. In these cases, grooves are provided.
BEARING Construction
Eccentricity

Half-shell bearings are frequently manufactured with a

circumferential taper of the wall. This eccentricity is typically
less than 0.001 in.
BEARING INSPECTION
DIRT EMBEDMENT
Causes of dirt contamination are improper
cleaning of the engine and parts prior to
assembly, road dirt and sand entering through
the air-intake manifold, or wear of other engine
parts, causing small fragments to enter the oil
supply.

Bearing with severe

dirt embedment
BEARING INSPECTION
DIRT EMBEDMENT

Poor maintenance practices are generally the

root cause of the problem.
Corrective actions: (1) grind and polish the
journal surfaces if necessary, (2) install new
bearings, paying particular attention to cleaning
procedures, and (3) change oil and filters at the
intervals recommended by the engine
manufacturer.

Bearing damaged by scoring.

 BEARING INSPECTION
FATIGUE
Generally speaking, bearing fatigue results when either
the load or time in service exceed the alloy’s
capability.

There are several possible causes: load concentrations

due to dirt, poor shaft or bore geometry, mis-assembly
of the bearing, material weakness caused by high-
temperature operation or corrosion, or simply
exceeding the bearing’s normally expected life span.

“Hen track” patterns. As fatigue

progresses into the second
stage, it takes on the classical
“wormhole” appearance,

Fatigue of bearing lining.

BEARING INSPECTION
FATIGUE

Fatigue caused by a tapered shaft

Fatigue caused by an hourglass-shaped shaft

Regrinding the crankshaft is recommended

BEARING INSPECTION
FATIGUE

Cap shift can be avoided by: (1) alternate torquing from

side to side to ensure proper cap seating, (2) using new
bolts to ensure against excessive play in bolt holes, (3)
making sure the cap isn’t reversed when installed, and
(4) using the correct size socket to tighten the bolts to
avoid interference with the cap.

Fatigue caused by a shifted bearing cap.

 BEARING INSPECTION
Excessive Wear.

1) Load level variations and 2) Geometric irregularities

Bearing worn in the center by a

barrel-shaped shaft Skewed wear pattern caused by a
bent connecting rod
Regrinding Replacing the rod is the best course of
the shaft will correct action
 BEARING INSPECTION
Foreign Material on Bearing Back

This leads to wear or fatigue

Proper cleaning and burr removal

prior to assembly

Foreign particles on bearing

 BEARING INSPECTION
HOT SHOT PHENOMENON
Large areas of the lining have been cleanly removed. The
damage occurs when the bearing temperature exceeds the
melting point of its lowest-melting-point metal, usually
lead or tin.
Causes of the failure can be insufficient oil flow, excessive dirt
in the oil, a rough shaft, or severe misalignment.

Correction involves thorough cleaning,

regrinding the shaft to fix the
damaged journal, checking for
blockage of oil passages, the oil-
suction screen and oil filter, and
making sure the oil pump and pressure
relief valves are operating properly.

Hot-short condition
 BEARING INSPECTION
CRUSH PROBLEM
If crush is insufficient, relative movement occurs between a
bearing and its bore. So-called fretted areas will be visible on
the bearing back and sometimes on the parting lines.

Causes of insufficient crush are (1) filing of the parting lines, (2)
dirt or burrs on the contact surfaces of the cap and housing, (3)
insufficient bolt torque, and (4) oversize housing bore.

Correction involves good installation

practices: bearings should never be
altered, mating faces of the assembly
should be clean and burr-free, the
bore size should be verified as correct,
and proper torque should be applied.

Fretting
BEARING INSPECTION
Crankcase and Crankshaft Distortion
These structural defects
primarily affect the main
bearings. Distortion causes
increased loads and lower oil
films, with conditions being
worst at the point of
maximum distortion. The
damage varies from bearing to
bearing, with the center main
usually showing the greatest
amount.

To correct the problem,

the crankcase must be
line bored
Fatigue of main bearing set due to a
distorted crankcase.
BEARING INSPECTION
Cavitation
This failure is induced by rapid fluctuations in oil film
pressure. When the pressure in one area of the film drops
below the oil’s vapor pressure, a vapor-filled cavity forms.
When the pressure increases again, the cavity collapses. This
causes the surrounding oil to impinge on the adjacent
bearing metal, eventually eroding the surface.

Ensuring that there is no air or water entrainment in the oil

may help the problem. If possible, changing to higher-
viscosity oil and increasing the oil pressure also may help

Cavitation
BEARING INSPECTION
Shaft Tolerances
BEARING INSPECTION

Connecting-rod parallelism and twist should be

checked prior to reassembly with new bearings
BEARING INSPECTION

Empty Bore Tolerances

 References

Maintenance Engineering Handbook 7th Edition by Keith Mobley (Author),

Lindley Higgins (Author), Darrin Wikoff (Author), Publisher : McGraw-Hill
Professional; 7th edition (March 21, 2008), ISBN-10 : 0071546464, ISBN-13 :
978-0071546461
Thank You
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