Method of making a sliding bearing
AssigneeFederal-Mogul World Wide, Inc.
InventorsYuefeng Luo, Paul Freemantle, William Zdeblick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention introduces a new category of engineered surfaces and corresponding production processes for better wear resistance and lower friction loss. The structured surfaces can be applied on many automobile components with frictional surfaces. The composite structure settles the usual conflicts between surface functions and stresses. Two sets of multiple-step processes are introduced to achieve high production efficiency and low cost. Unlike traditional surface technologies that generate single and uniform layers on the whole part surface, the new technology processes the part surface selectively for more effective surfaces with versatile functions.
Claims25
A method of making a sliding bearing, comprising:
- fabricating a bearing member of a first material having a bearing surface;
- forming a plurality of cavities in the bearing surface such that a portion of the bearing surface corresponds to the cavities;
- depositing a layer of a fluid polymer over the bearing surface such that the layer of the fluid polymer covers substantially all of the bearing surface except for the portion of the bearing surface corresponding to the plurality of cavities;
- depositing a second material into the cavities to form a corresponding plurality of bearing surface features in the cavities;
- and
- removing the fluid polymer from the bearing surface.
A method of making a sliding bearing, comprising:
- fabricating a bearing member of a first material having a bearing surface;
- forming a plurality of cavities in the bearing surface such that a portion of the bearing surface corresponds to the cavities;
- depositing a layer of a photosensitive polymer over the bearing surface;
- exposing the photosensitive polymer over the bearing surface such that the portion of the bearing surface corresponding to the cavities is preferentially predisposed for removal;
- removing the photosensitive polymer from the portions of the bearing surface corresponding to the plurality of cavities;
- and
- depositing a second material into the cavities to form a corresponding plurality of bearing surface features in the cavities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.