Short fatigue crack growth behaviour in plain bearings

Plain bearings have been in use for many years, over this time their design and the choice of materials used in their construction has been continuously improved. They are currently used as main and con-rod big end bearings in automotive engines. The service conditions for automotive bearings are becoming more severe with new engine designs, and it is important that new bearing materials are designed to provide the longest possible operating life at these higher loads, and at an economic cost. In order to do this it is necessary to study both the loading conditions and the fatigue failure behaviour of plain bearings, with a view to optimising their design and the use of appropriate materials. The aim of our research is to evaluate early fatigue initiation and short crack growth behaviour in bearing materials to establish the key parameters controlling early crack propagation, hence providing material optimisation data. The approach taken combines experimental fatigue evaluation of the bearing lining and finite element modelling of the local microstructure