Fatigue resistance investigation of the IC engine MB11 bearings, working under conditions of dynamic unidirectional loadings

The slide bearing material MB11 fatigue resistance has been investigated with the application of SMOK - test stand in which dynamic unidirectional loadings to the test bearing is generated. Slide bearing layer consists of the bronze (Cu Pb22 Sn 3) sintered to the steel shell. Each of the tested bearing has been subject to the standard 20-hour test, under conditions of the full fluid lubrication. Methodology of the experiments, metallurgical test results and fractographic description of the lining fatigue crack zone are presented. The values of the fatigue strength parameters are also estimated. For the loading pattern that is characteristic for the test devices such as SMOK tester, because of the nominally negative high normal stresses in the damage area, the mechanisms of cracks generation could be explained as follows: yield stress can be reached when during compression at the bearing working temperature the local plastic deformation can appear. After completing the test, in the region of plastic deformation, the tensile stresses can be generated due to the temperature reduction. Slide material is much more sensitive to the tensile loadings than to the compressive one, especially in the area that is weaken by empty spaces. That might be reason for cracks generation. Additionally in the case of the thin-wall bearing shell, assembled in the elastic housing, the circumferentially oriented cracks can appear. It has been observed for high bearing loadings applied on the SMOK tester. Fatigue cracks in the MB11 material tested on the SMOK machine are of the surface net pattern, positioned paralleled to the slide surface (Fig. 8). Mainly structural cracks can be noticed when analyzing the metallographic description. This is related to the porosity of the alloy structure. This is much different from the aluminum alloy structure (the bearing alloy that was previously investigated) where arterial structures of cracks were dominant. The slide surface is the place of cracks nucleation. When in slide layer there are bigger soft material elements or voids it is also possible to observe generation of cracks in any place of the bulk thickness. During consequent development of the process the micro-cracks are spreading out and going to the next defected parts of the alloys. The continuous surface of separation is then developed. The micro-cracks space net which is typical for this kind of damage is not precisely oriented but rather random. The eventually oriented fracture is due to the not uniform structure.