Composite material having a slide layer applied by cathode sputtering

Abstract

For some applications of slide layers, for example in connecting rod bearings of internal combustion engines, for individual sites of a formed piece, high load bearing capability are required while for other places of the same formed piece good embedding abilities are demanded. A composite material with a slide layer applied by cathode sputtering of a tightly cohesive matrix and an insoluble component distributed statistically in it, is adapted to these opposite demands in that the diameter of the particle of the insoluble material has gradients at predetermined sites, which extend parallel to the surface of the slide layer, and to which slide layer hardness gradients correspond. These gradients are generated during the cathode sputtering process in the substrate to be coated to form a growing slide layer having temperature gradients which are maintained and which extend parallel to the substrate surface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.