A method of forming a bearing cage is generally disclosed herein. The method includes (i) forming a bearing cage from either titanium or a titanium alloy; and (ii) applying a plasma-nitriding treatment to at least one surface of the bearing cage to form a compound layer of titanium nitride including TiN and Ti.sub.2N on an outer region of the at least one surface. Step (ii) further forms a diffusion zone adjacent to the outer region, in one aspect. A surface hardness of the bearing cage that is treated by the plasma-nitriding step is at least 1000 HV. The bearing cage is configured to be used in a turbofan, turboprop, or turboshaft engine or in a helicopter gearbox, in one aspect.

A thrust ball bearing retainer a large size of bearings with the bearing raceways being modified using a surface enhancement process such as hard anodizing coating, which provides low friction coefficient and initial wear rate. The retainer material is selected to be molded, synthetic resin, self-lubricated material reinforced with carbon fiber, molybdenum disulfide, and PTPE. This lubrication system eliminates the thermal induced bearing torque effect due to viscosity. The retainer contains multiply segments with an inner race guided configuration, an alternative ball pocket cross section design and a ball pocket slotted configuration (1) to reduce the thermal induced effects due to coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between the raceway and the retainer material (2) to enhance the producibility of the retainer due to out-of-round, out-of-flatness and torsional wrap, and (3) to reduce the manufacturing cost. The pocket design with an oval cross section instead of a circular cross section also reduces the localized thermal induced effect which would otherwise result in a pinching condition between the ball and the retainer. The alternative slotted retainer pocket design is used to increase the compliance between ball/pocket interfaces, which helps to reduce the dynamic induced effects. The ends of the retainer segments are designed to reduce the interactive transferring, circumferential force between two adjacent segments.

A method is provided that forms a solid film on a bearing component of a rolling bearing. A solution containing a fluorine compound and a lubricant having no functional group is allowed to adhere to the bearing component as a liquid film, the fluorine compound containing 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate, hexafluoropropene, and methyl methacrylate as components. The solid film is formed on the at least one of the bearing components by hardening the adhering liquid film.

A method is provided that forms a solid film on a bearing component of a rolling bearing. A solution containing a fluorine compound and a lubricant having no functional group is allowed to adhere to the bearing component as a first liquid film (adhesion step). The adhering first liquid film is hardened to form the solid film on the bearing component. The rolling bearing including the bearing component with the solid film formed thereon is rotated. The rolling bearing is washed in a washer fluid containing the same lubricant as that used in the adhesion step, and the washer fluid is allowed to adhere to the bearing component as a second liquid film. Then, the adhering second liquid film is dried.

In a first process, a resin molded article having a predetermined shape is molded. Next, in a second process, a surface of the resin molded article is treated with plasma in a vacuum to provide irregularities in the surface of the resin molded articles. In the second process, discharge ignition is performed in inert gas to generate plasma, and while a degree of vacuum is maintained, raw material gas is then replaced by air.

A method of forming a bearing cage is generally disclosed herein. The method includes (i) forming a bearing cage from either titanium or a titanium alloy; and (ii) applying a plasma-nitriding treatment to at least one surface of the bearing cage to form a compound layer of titanium nitride including TiN and Ti.sub.2N on an outer region of the at least one surface. Step (ii) further forms a diffusion zone adjacent to the outer region, in one aspect. A surface hardness of the bearing cage that is treated by the plasma-nitriding step is at least 1000 HV. The bearing cage is configured to be used in a turbofan, turboprop, or turboshaft engine or in a helicopter gearbox, in one aspect.

An electric motor is provided which is designed to minimize a risk of corrosion or stress corrosion cracking of parts thereof and reduce mechanical vibration or noise. The electric motor includes an output shaft, a bearing which retains the output shaft, a frame, and a biasing member. The biasing member is made of austenite stainless steel and disposed between the bearing and a bottom wall of a bearing housing to elastically press the output shaft in a lengthwise direction thereof for eliminating mechanical noise arising from vibration of a rotor. The frame has a coating formed on an outer surface thereof for avoiding erosion thereof. The coating is not formed at least on a portion of the frame which faces the biasing member in order to induce sacrificial corrosion of the frame, which decelerates the corrosion of the biasing member to eliminate a risk of the stress corrosion cracking thereof.

An aluminum alloy cage and a method for producing the same. The aluminum alloy cage has a shot-peened aluminum alloy cage substrate and a coating formed on the surface of shot-peened aluminum alloy cage substrate, the coating including at least one nickel containing layer. The aluminum alloy cage has high fatigue strength, excellent corrosion resistance, high surface hardness and low surface friction coefficient, and exhibits excellent surface lubricity and wear resistance.

A coating mask for bearing and covering a portion of a to-be-plated component includes at least one bearing unit. Each bearing unit includes a first bearing portion, a second bearing portion, and at least two ribbed plates. An annular groove is defined between the first bearing portion and the second bearing portion. The at least two ribbed plates are formed in the annular groove. Each of the at least two ribbed plates includes a first ribbed portion and a second ribbed portion connected to the first ribbed portion. The first ribbed portion is connected to the second bearing portion; the second ribbed portion is connected to the first bearing portion. An included angle θ.sub.1 is defined by the first ribbed portion and the second ribbed portion, and θ.sub.1 is an obtuse angle. The disclosure also relates to a coating device.

To provide a rolling bearing superior in its seizure resistance, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance by improving peeling resistance of a DLC film and by showing the original properties of the DLC film, even when the rolling bearing is brought into contact with another member under a condition of a high load or an inferior lubrication state causing sliding or a condition in which foreign matters are mixed. A deep groove ball bearing (1) includes an inner ring (2) having an inner ring raceway surface (2a) on an outer circumference, an outer ring (3) having an outer ring raceway surface (3a) on an inner circumference, rolling elements (4) that roll between the inner ring raceway surface (2a) and the outer ring raceway surface (3a), a cage (5) that retains the rolling elements (4), and a hard film (8) formed on the inner ring raceway surface (2a) or the like. The hard film (8) is brought into rolling contact and sliding contact with other bearing component. The hard film (8) includes a foundation layer, a mixed layer formed on the foundation layer and having a gradient composition mainly formed of WC and DLC, and a surface layer formed on the mixed layer and mainly formed of DLC. The indentation hardness of the surface layer measured by a method defined in ISO 14577 is 9-22 GPa.