A bearing element may include a bearing element substrate and a sliding layer applied to a surface of the bearing element substrate. The sliding layer may be formed of a sliding layer material. A surface roughness (Ra) of the surface of the bearing element substrate may be less than 1 m. The sliding layer material may include a polymeric material and iron oxide. The sliding layer may have at least three layers of the sliding layer material.

A sliding component may include an overlay comprising a polymeric material and a metal oxide. The metal oxide may have a thermal conductivity of greater than about 1.5 Wm.sup.1K.sup.1, and a Mohs hardness of between about 5 and about 7. The sliding component may be a sliding component for an engine, such as a bearing, a bearing shell, a bush, a thrust washer, a journal bearing or the like.

A coated component, in particular to a rolling bearing part, made from a metallic substrate (2), and a PVD coating (3), which is applied to the substrate (2), formed of chromium and having a thickness of less than 2 m, wherein the PVD coating (3) forms the surface of the component, and a compound of chromium and at least one further element is formed on the component surface.

The invention discloses a bearing ring. The bearing ring, with a body, has an electrically insulating coating made up of a ceramic layer with pores and a plastic for filling the pores and coating the ceramic layer. According to the invention, the pores have a proportion between 10 and 50% in the ceramic layer. The invention furthermore defines an electrically insulating coating, made up of a ceramic layer with pores and a plastic for filling the pores and coating the ceramic layer. The invention further still discloses a method for applying an electrically insulating coating to a body of a bearing ring.

A sliding element with one substrate and at least one layer of a sliding layer material applied to the substrate is described. The sliding layer material can consist of a sliding coating with at least one cross-linkable bonding agent or at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or which consists of a material with a matrix of at least one high-melting thermoplastic material or at least one duroplastic material. This sliding layer material contains Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 with a preferred proportion 0.1 to 15% by volume.

A rolling bearing includes a first raceway ring having a first raceway surface, a second raceway ring having a second raceway surface, and a plurality of rolling elements held between the first raceway surface and the second raceway surface in a freely rollable manner. An oxide film containing Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 is provided on at least one of surfaces of the first raceway surface and the second raceway surface and surfaces of the rolling elements. A film thickness of the oxide film is 0.6 m or more and 2.0 m or less. A crystallite size calculated from a peak attributable to the (311) plane of the Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 is 2.5 nm or more and 3.2 nm or less.