The Influence of Spraying Parameters on Tribological Characterization of Thermally Sprayed Antifriction Coatings for Aircraft Bearings

To increase service life of aircraft bearings it is desirable to select materials of friction pair with low coefficient of friction and high erosion resistance. Main difference of aircraft bearings are high load (more than 100 mPa) and low linear velocity(less than 1 m/sec). To obtain sliding bearings with low coefficient of friction (less than 0,5) it needs to apply thermally sprayed composite coatings. In this study antifriction composite coatings were obtained by APS, HVOF and D-Gun were compared. The morphology, composition and microstructure of these coatings were investigated by using SEM and EDS.

To achieve low coefficient of friction we changed sprayed parameters to control porosity, distribution and concentration of dry lubricant and macrohardness. Tribological properties  of the new antifriction composite coatings were studied compared to commercially available antifriction materials like bronze. Results of test could be used for aircraft bearings to increasing of service life.