A plastic bearing material of a bearing may include a block copolymer. The block copolymer may include structural blocks of two or more different polymers. A first polymer may include at least one of polyamide-imide and polybenzimidazole. A second polymer may include at least one of polydimethylsiloxane, methyl vinyl ether and polyisobutene. A method for manufacturing a plastic bearing material may include synthesizing a structural block of a first polymer and a structural block of a second polymer to define a block copolymer via a condensation reaction.

A slide member is provided with a metal back, a bearing alloy layer disposed over a first surface of the metal back, and a diamond-like carbon layer disposed at least over a second surface of the metal back, the second surface being located on an opposite side of the first surface. The diamond-like carbon layer has a hardness equal to or less than 1000 HV and when subjected to infrared spectroscopy analysis, exhibits absorption wavenumbers of following wavenumbers (1) to (5) originating from different chemical bonding states: wavenumber (1): 2800-3100 cm.sup.−1, wavenumber (2): 1500-1800 cm.sup.−1, wavenumber (3): 1200-1500 cm.sup.−1, wavenumber (4): 3300-3600 cm.sup.−1, wavenumber (5): 730-930 cm.sup.−1. The relation (P1+P3)/(P1+P2+P3)≧0.50 is satisfied when an integrated value of absorption rate with respect to wavenumbers (1), (2), and (3) is represented as peak area values P1, P2, and P3, respectively.

An apparatus (1) with a reciprocating component (3) fitted with composite cushioning slides (13) on an exterior surface (8, 9). The reciprocating component (3) is movable along a reciprocation path and the composite cushioning slide (13) includes an exterior first layer (14) and an interior second layer (15). The first layer (14) is formed with an exterior surface (16) configured and orientated to come into sliding contact with a containment surface (7) of the apparatus (1) during the reciprocating movement of the reciprocating component (3), the first layer (14) is formed from a material of predetermined friction and/or abrasion resistance properties. The interior second layer (15) is located between the first layer (14) and reciprocating component (3) and is formed from a shock-absorbing material having predetermined shock absorbing properties.

A difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of arithmetic mean roughness Ra of an annular surface region in contact with a larger flange surface, in a larger end face of the tapered roller, is not greater than 0.02 μm. A value of a ratio R/R.sub.BASE is not smaller than 0.75 and not greater than 0.87 where R represents a set radius of curvature of the larger end face of the tapered roller and R.sub.BASE represents a distance from a point which is an apex of a cone angle of the tapered roller to the larger flange surface of the inner ring. A ratio R.sub.process/R is not lower than 0.5 where R.sub.process represents an actual radius of curvature after grinding of the larger end face of the tapered roller and R represents a set radius of curvature.

A sliding-hearing composite material includes a steel supporting layer (10), an intermediate layer (12) based on an aluminum alloy that is free of lead, and a bearing metal layer (14) based on an aluminum alloy that is free of lead, wherein the aluminum alloy of the intermediate layer (12) has a composition having 3.5 to 4.5 wt % copper, 0.1 to 1.5 wt % manganese, 0.1 to 1.5 wt % magnesium, and the usual admissible impurities, the remainder being aluminum, and wherein the aluminum alloy of the bearing mental layer (14) has a composition having wt % tin, 1.0-3.0 wt % nickel, 0.5-1.0 wt % manganese, 0.5-1.0 wt % copper, 0.15-0.25 wt % chromium, 0.1-0.3 wt % vanadium, and the usual admissible impurities, he remainder being aluminum. A sliding bearing element and the use of the sliding-bearing composite material for sliding bearing element, particularly sliding bearing shells, sliding bearing bushes, or thrust washers is also disclosed.

A wheel bearing arrangement for a vehicle, comprising at least one roller bearing, wherein at least one of the roller bearings is a ball bearing, which includes an inner ring and an outer ring, wherein both rings have raceways for balls being located between the rings. To ensure a sufficient lifetime of the roller bearings and to minimize the friction in the bearing, the at least one of the rings of the bearing arrangement is made from a ball bearing steel produced by a powder metallurgical process using a powder metallurgy component including 0.5 to 2.0 weight-% C, a maximum of 0.035 weight-% S, 3.0 to 5.0 weight-% Cr, 1.0 to 4.0 weight-% V, 1.0 to 12.0 weight-% W and 2.0 to 12.0 weight-% Mo, wherein at least one raceway has a radius and the balls have a diameter which fulfills the equation: radius/diameter>0.53.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to bearing assemblies configured to effectively provide heat dissipation for bearing elements, bearing apparatuses including such bearing assemblies, and methods of operating such bearing assemblies and apparatuses. In an embodiment, a bearing assembly includes a plurality of superhard bearing elements distributed about an axis. Each superhard bearing element of the plurality of superhard bearing elements has a superhard table including a superhard surface. The bearing assembly includes a support ring structure coupled to the plurality of superhard bearing elements. One or more of the superhard bearing elements includes a superhard table, which may improve heat transfer from such superhard bearing elements.

A bearing structure includes a bearing that supports a propeller shaft, an annular vibration isolating member fitted over the bearing, an outer ring attached to the vibration isolating member and having an outer-peripheral fitting surface, and a bracket attached to a vehicle body and having an inner-peripheral fitting surface that is fitted to the outer-peripheral fitting surface. Both the bracket and the outer ring are formed of an aluminum material. An anodized aluminum layer is formed on at least one of the inner-peripheral fitting surface and the outer-peripheral fitting surface. Because of the above mentioned features, the bearing structure that has a light weight and is inexpensive and productive.

An apparatus is provided that includes a diamond bearing surface positioned in sliding engagement with an opposing bearing surface of a diamond reactive material. The opposing bearing surface is hardened via a material treatment.

A wear-resistant member that is slidingly contacted with a hard member, wherein the wear-resistant member is formed of an alloy in which hard particles having an average particle size of 10 to 150 μm are bonded by a bonding portion.