Investigation of the tribological properties of silicon containing zinc–aluminum based journal bearings

In this study, frictional behavior of thin-walled journal bearings produced from Zn–Al–Cu–Si alloys was investigated using a purpose-built journal bearing test rig. The alloys were produced by permanent mould casting. Mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile strength, elongation, hardness and microstructure of these alloys were determined. The friction properties of the bearings produced from these alloys were also investigated. In this investigation, the effects of surface roughness and bearing pressure on the frictional properties of the journal bearings were taken into account. The results showed that friction factor decreased with increasing bearing pressure especially in the mixed and full-film lubrication zones. It was found that high surface roughness led to high friction factor. The ZnAl27Cu2Si1 and ZnAl40Cu2Si1 bearings showed full Stribeck curve tendency while ZnAl27Cu2Si2 bearing did not exhibit the typical diagram having no full-film lubrication zone at the pressure of 0.7 and 1.1 MPa.