Method of producing bearing component

A method of producing bearing components such as an inner ring, an outer ring, a rolling element and a shaft having a solid lubricant of silver at a frictional surface part of a metal substrate of ferrous material constituting a bearing component, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a coating layer having a substantially uniform thickness on said frictional surface part of said metal substrate by electroplating, the solubilities of the material of the coating layer in said ferrous material and in the silver lubricant being higher than the mutual solubility of the ferrous material and the silver lubricant, said coating layer comprising a nickel layer bonded to said frictional surface part and a gold or copper layer bonded to said nickel layer, the thickness of the nickel layer being larger than that of the gold or copper layer,
• electroplating said solid lubricant on a surface part of said coating layer which solid lubricant has a substantially uniform thickness of 0.2-0.6 .mu.m and which consists of silver having a low solubility in said ferrous material and is thicker than said nickel layer, and
• maintaining under a reducing atmosphere said solid lubricant, said coating layer and said metal substrate for a predetermined period of time at a temperature lower than the maximum operating temperature of the bearing component to induce mutual diffusion of the substrate metal, the coating material and the lubricant while still permitting elemental silver to remain on the surface part of the solid lubricant layer and a part of the lubricant layer other than the surface part and the coating layer are alloyed with each other by said mutual diffusion, thereby increasing the bonding strength between the metal substrate, the coating layer and the solid lubricant and strengthening by alloying the coating layer and the other part within the interior of the solid lubricant, the total thickness of the coating layer and the solid lubricant layer being 0.4-1.0 .mu.m;
• and the heat treatment for inducing diffusion being conducted with the bearing components assembled and with a powder of a nonmetallic solid lubricant placed between said assembled bearing components.