2010
ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division 2010 Fall Technical Conference
NEW APPROACHES ON MATERIAL DESIGN FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE 2-STROKE ENGINE
BEARINGS
Robert Mergen
Miba Gleitlager GmbH
Laakirchen, Austria
Leopold Harreither
Miba Gleitlager GmbH
Laakirchen, Austria
ABSTRACT
When looking at the performance criteria of bearings for
the application in Two-Stroke engines, properties like
emergency running capabilities, embedability and the fatigue
properties are vital to the performance of these engines. The
typical approach is to use materials with a soft Tin matrix and
hard intermetallic phases commonly known as “Babbitt”
alloys. In a second, more recent approach, Aluminium alloys
with elevated Tin content are more and more often chosen.
Babbitts outmatch any bearing alloys by their outstanding
tribological performance but have very limited mechanical
properties. Oppositely, the Aluminium alloys have substantial
higher strength but leak somehow with regard to emergency
running properties.
Whereas the poorer running properties of Aluminium
Alloys can be overcome by using suitable running-in coatings,
the strength increase of the Tin matrices of Babbitts is
rigorously limited by the production technology of spin casting
and the ban of hazardous alloying elements such as Cadmium.
In order to satisfy the needs of engines manufacturers for
a material which combines the advantages of Aluminium- and
Tin-base alloys, a new approach which combines both
metallurgical alloy development and process technology
redesign is necessary.
September 12-15, 2010, San Antonio, Texas, USA
ICEF2010-35139
Falko Langbein
Miba Gleitlager GmbH
Laakirchen, Austria
By a fundamental process analysis, the limiting effect
with regard to alloy tuning of the existing production
technology for steel-babbitt bearing shells will be shown in
this paper. Further more, new process routings with the effect
of enabling the production of Babbitt bearings with never
practized alloy compositions with enhanced mechanical
properties are presented.
INTRODUCTION
The recent developments of combustion engines are
mainly driven by the demand for lower emissions, extension
of engine life time and reduction of maintenance. Engine
bearings will especially have to cope with higher ignition
pressures and surface speeds, reactants from alternative fuels
and new lube-oil additives and many other challenges.
Concerning large engines for power plants and sea-vessels,
significant research programs on international scale have been
started especially in the field of large four-stroke engines [1]
and since 2008 extended to two-stroke-engines also [2].
Tin-based alloys are amongst the oldest known solutions
for slide bearing applications [3]. Babbitt bearings showed
already clear signs of performance limit when first engine
upgrades were made starting in the late 1990’s. Then, bimetal
bearings with AlSn40Cu-lining alloy have been proposed as a
good solution especially to overcome the poor fatigue
resistance of Babbitt linings [4]. Even though the seizure
resistance of AlSn40 is lower than Tin-based linings, this
1 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
solution is today widely used for main and cross head bearings
and in up to mid size 2 Stroke engines as there is no Babbitt
alternative.
Due to the necessary tribological properties at assembly,
where high loads on not lubricated bearings destroy the
running surface and to improve conformability for engine
operation polymer based overlays [5] have been added to this
bearing type. This widely used bearing shows extraordinary
performance and has reduced bearing failure dramatically
although failure consequences have become more severe
mainly also due to the higher loading.
The present paper will focus on alloy design which
incorporates the high load carrying capability of AlSn40 with
the thick pad bearing concept of the standard Babbitt bearings
and its tribological advantages. Figure 1 shows the
development goals for the next generation of Babbitt materials
in terms of seizure load and fatigue strength.
130
HM07
Min. Seizure Load (MPa)
120
AlSn40
Target Area New Babbitt
110
100
90
80
70
60 70 80 90
Fatigue Strength at 2*105 LC (MPa)
Figure 1: Target values next generation of Babbitt alloys
NOMENCLATURE
Babbitt = Tin or Lead based alloys
WM White-metal, Tin or Lead based alloys
HM07 = Standard Tin-based alloy with 7,5
wt.% Antimony, 3,5 wt% Copper and
1,0 wt.% Cadmium
WM89 = Standard Tin-based alloy with 7,5
wt.% Antimony and 3,5 wt% Copper
ASTM B23-2 = Standard Tin-based alloy with 7,5
wt.% Antimony and 3,5 wt% Copper
AlSn40 = Standard 40 wt.% Tin Aluminum-
based alloy for bi-metal bearings
AlSn20 = Standard 20 wt.% Tin Aluminum-
based alloy for bi-metal bearings
AlZn4SiPb = Standard 7000 series alloy for tri-
metal bearing application
CuPb22Sn2 = Standard Copper-Lead-based alloy for
tri-metal bearings with 22 wt.% Lead
and 2 wt.% Tin
CuSn5Zn1+ = High Strength Copper-based Lead-
free alloy for tri-metal bearings with 5
wt.% Tin and 1 wt.% Zinc
LC = Load cycles
σwb = Compressive resp. Tensile bending
stress
HB = Brinell Hardness
TEST PROCEDURES
State of the art laboratory testing facilities e.g. chemical
and metallographic analysis, hardness and tensile testing are
used for standard material characterization. Advanced bearing
material developments require furthermore the use of special
test equipment for performance evaluation before the first field
test is done.
Fatigue resistance
The alternate bending test measures the quantities of load
cycles and thus the time until the sample fails by a given
bending force. It is a very appropriate method to determine the
fatigue properties of flat samples consisting of a laminar
metallic compound structure as it is common for multilayer
bearings (see Figure 2).
To gain statistical results, two to three load levels each
with a minimum of four test samples are performed with every
material variant.
100 Technical requirements
• Identifications of alternate fatigue strength on
bearing material to DIN 50142 at room temperature
Design features
•Number of test equipments: 8
•Sample dimensions: L/W/H = 90/17,5/≤10mm
•Maximum bending moment: ± 15 Nm
•Maximum swinging angle:
•Test frequency:
± 12°
25Hz
[+σ wb ]
Tension
0 Cycles
Compression
[-σ wb]
Figure 2: Test arrangement for alternate bending tests
LIMITATIONS OF TIN-BASED BEARING ALLOYS
Typical bearing alloy properties such as running-in
behaviour, embeddability, mechanical compliance and
corrosion resistance are outstandingly well covered by Babbitt
alloys if one compares with Aluminum- or Copper-based
alloys. The sole really restricting factor is the poor fatigue
resistance which leads to severe damages or premature
2 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
bearing exchange as soon as higher loads occur. Picture 3
shows an example of bearing material which run above their
capability.
Figure 3: Failure of Tin-based lining alloy due to fatigue
rupture
If one compares the dynamic strength values of Babbitt
material against some other typical metallic bearing materials
(see figure 4), the enormous disadvantage becomes obvious.
Figure 4: Fatigue strength of typical bearing alloys
The reason for the low strength of Tin-based alloys is of
course the extreme softness of the matrix metal Tin [6, 7]. As
for all metallic materials however, techniques as alloying or
particle hardening are widely used and have come up with
quite remarkable results also for Babbitt materials as is shown
in figure 5.
Figure 5: Compressive Yield strength vs. temperature [8]
The obvious question, why those new alloys are not
widely used already for bearings, will be answered hereafter.
STATE-OF-THE-ART BEARING PRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY
In the very specific case of bearing applications however,
the production process of the alloy is combined with the
bonding process to steel. Besides the principle of static
castings, in the case of large bearings, the spin casting
technology is most widely used. Figure 6 shows the principles
of the spin casting processes.
Figure 6: Spin casting process [9]
Due to the combined action of alloy-specific phase
formations and the multi-g enhanced buoyancy effect, the
density segregation of some of the strength-enhancing phases
towards the steel is inevitable. As a result, the final structure is
a functionally graded material layer with unfortunately
inverted properties as shown in Figure 7. The segregation
effect can go as far as to create in the area of the steel-alloy
interface a layer with bad bonding properties with the steel
leading to de-lamination during production or, worst case,
premature de-lamination in the engine leading to severe
damages.
Figure 7: Segregation in a Tin-based bearing alloy
3 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
 Besides the density driven formation of metallic-phases
layers, the metallurgical process per se can lead to the
formation of compounds by reactions with the iron of the
backing steel-shell if some desirable alloying elements were to
be added [10].
selection study has been executed in a first step with the aim
of delivering an alloy formulation with superior mechanical
strength [11]. Figures 8a to 8c show a series of micrographs
representing the metallurgical test field.

As a conclusion, the use of spin casting is not only a

critical process with regard to optimum production parameters
and settings but forbids any progress with regard to the matrix
strengthening as soon as phase-formation or particle
reinforcing is concerned.

The content of some alloying elements with the highest

strengthening potential such as Antimony and Copper are Figure 8a: New Babbitt SnSb15Cu6+ Var. A
restricted to 15 wt.% respectively 6wt.%.

NOVEL TECHNOLOGICAL AND METALLURGICAL

DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES

After an intense joint study and analysis of both the

metallurgical and processing dependencies, interactions and
functions, the authors propose hereafter a new approach that
will overcome the known limitations. Basically, a substantial Figure 8b: New Babbitt SnSb15Cu6+ Var. B
alloy improvement on the basis of conventional production
technologies is impossible.

Whereas some advanced research is currently made

proposing the use of rapidly solidified improved alloy powders
and the use of a laser cladding process for the bimetal
formation, the present paper presents a new concept based in
principle on decoupling the technological core processes of the
bearing production into less complex sub-processes.
Figure 8c: New Babbitt SnSb15Cu6+ Var. C

On very promising new routing which is currently under
further investigations is to use an adapted horizontal
continuous strip casting process; the casting and cooling
conditions can be chosen without taking care of the
restrictions given by the compound forming parameters
dictated to the conventional production method. Also, the
alloy strip can be subjected to a wide variety of post-
processing techniques such as rolling and thermal treating for
example. The applicable cladding processes for the compound
The performed hardness measurement (see figure 9)
shows quite promising test results. Presently, more complex
tests, especially with regard to fatigue and tribological
performance are currently in progress and at the time of this
publication not completely finished.
60
Hardness as cast (HB)
50
Hardness (HB)

formation are numerous.

40
A second possibility of choice is to use in a first step a
base alloy which is easy to spin-cast and postpone the alloying + ~30% + ~20%
30
to the desired high-performance composition to a later stage.
Right now, the authors of the present paper are working on a
20
new alloying process by selective re-melting of the base-alloy.
HM07 Var. A Var. B Var. C
Alloy Variant

By decoupling casting process and compound formation, Figure 9: Hardness measurements SnSb15Cu6+ alloys
a wide material screening plan based on a theoretical pre-

4 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

 Parallel to the alloy development, the compound
formation process is indeed the second subject of intense
research activity.
A meanwhile restricted number of different process
variants have been elaborated covering following types of
process routings:
Variant 1:
1. Compound formation by spin-casting with adapted
alloy
2. Alloying by using a re-melting technology
Variant 2:
1. Alloying & Continuous Casting (e.g. strip casting)
2. Compound formation
Figure 10 shows an example for an advanced alloy using
Process variant 1.
Re-melted structure
40 HB
30 HB
As-cast structure
Figure 10: Alloyed Tin-based lining by re-melting process
Variant 2 includes some interesting options of thermo-
mechanical post-processing of the as cast material prior to the
compound formation operation with primarily the possibility
of shaping the hardening phases in order to improve their
tribological behaviour. Figure 11 shows an example for an
advanced alloy using Variant 2 compared to a standard
processed alloy.
Std. Process New Process
Figure 11: Microstructure development due to thermo-
mechanical post-processing
CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
State-of-the-Art fabrication methods for Babbitt Bearings
is shown as being the limiting factor to further performance
progress within this field of bearing types. The demand for
higher strength Tin-based bimetal bearings can only be
satisfied when advanced production logics and technologies
are used.
Two newly developed approaches are now proposed which
enable significant progress achievements with regard to the
bearing alloy metallurgy and structure. So far, hardness
increases of up to 30% compared to HM07 have already been
attained.
Parallel to ongoing refinements with regard to the new
family of bearing alloys, the chosen production processes will
be further adapted to the specific case and analyzed with
regard to process stability, flexibility, costs and potential.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the colleagues from the
Austrian Foundry Institute (ÖGI) for supporting this work.
REFERENCES
[1] Framework Program 6 of the European Commission
„HERCULES-A High Efficiency Engine R&D on
Combustion with Ultra Low Emissions for Ships”,
(2004)
[2] Framework Program 7 of the European Commission
„HERCULES-B Higher-efficiency Engine with Ultra-
Low Emissions for Ships”, (2007)
[3] I. Babbitt, Patent application US 1252 (1839)
[4] W. Hilgers „Einfluß der Temperatur auf die
dynamische Festigkeit von Gleitlagerwerkstoffen auf
Blei- und Zinnbasis“, Gleitlagertechnik, Th.
Goldschmidt AG (1992)
[5] R. Mergen, H. Lang, L. Harreither „Synthetic coated
bearings as future alternative for large engines“,
24th World Congress on Combustion Engine
Technology – CIMAC Kyoto (2004)
[6] W. Hilgers „Gleitlagerwerkstoffe“, Gleitlagertechnik,
Th. Goldschmidt AG (1992)
[7] B. F. Mueller „Zinn Taschenbuch“, Metall-Verlag
GmbH – Berlin 33, Duesseldorf (1981)
5 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
[8] R. Koring „Verbesserte Lagermetalle, ein
internationaler Vergleich“, ECKA Granulate Essen
GmbH, 4. Auflage (2004)

[9] Miba Bearing Group „Bearing Production“, Miba

Engine Bearing Manual (2005)

[10] K. Sueruel „Entwicklung von neuartigen

Bindeschichten zur Verbesserung der Bindefestigkeit
von Zinnbasis-Gleitlagermetallen“, PhD Thesis,
RWTH Aachen University (2009)

[11] F. Langbein, A. Eberhard „Gleitlagerlegierung aus

Weißmetall auf Zinnbasis“, Patent application WO
2009/108975 A1 (2009)

6 Copyright © 2010 by ASME