Condition of plain bearings after shop test / sea trial.

Refer to Operation instruction book chapter 708 for further information.

Cross head Bearings

During the years of producing our MC, MC-C range engines, MAN B&W Diesel
has often been asked about the appearance of bearings after shoptest / seatrial.
From our long time experience with these particulars before actual service
operation and in service, we are able to safely judge a present and future
condition of bearings, which are inspected after the trials.
Since the very beginning we have experienced conditions after shoptest / seatrial,
which appear more or less critical from the looks. Since it has not been our policy
to specifically state what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, such findings
after the trials have often let to unfortunate and unnecessary discussions between
the owner, the shipyard, the class and the licensee. It is therefore our wish that the
below stated will improve the understanding of bearing condition and appearance
in these circumstances.
The crosshead bearings are generally the most troublesome in terms of after
shoptest / seatrial inspection appearance. It is much too often necessary between
the owner, the class and the licensee to discuss whether or not the condition is
acceptable.
The crosshead bearings in our MC - MC-C range are of the thin shell type and
they are basically designed as tri-metal bearings: steel, bearing metal and lead as
the main components. The running-in layer is a 0.025 - 0.035mm thick
galvanically applied lead-tin alloy layer, and the only (important) function is to
perform the final adaptation of the bearing shell surface to the pin surface,
without creating excessive heat and wiping. This adaptation is important for the
future performance of the crosshead bearing, which more than the other principal
plain bearings rely on correct geometry because of the limited rocking motion
dynamics of this particular bearing. The lead-tin alloy running-in layer has
furthermore been used on crosshead bearings in the mentioned thickness for many
decades highly successfully.
In spite of the above advantages of the lead-tin alloy overlay it is also the source
of our appearance problem with regards to crosshead bearings. During shoptest /
seatrial the running-in takes place, and because of the modern demands for less
trial running time, the process of running-in has become very condensed. This has
sometimes the consequence that the lead-tin alloy overlay often becomes

overloaded before it embed / wears / deform itself correctly into shape. Such short
overloading of the lead-tin is not necessarily a problem since lead is
recrystallizating at low temperatures. It may be damaged, but it will instantly redeform into a new suitable form without loosing its good tribological and
adaptical properties.
The problem starts when the bearing is inspected after the trials. Here the
appearance is often far from what one would expect from an almost new bearing.
The surface looks often pitted / torn in areas and if more severe, the lead may
have loosened from the bearing metal and formed areas of holes or/and areas with
a wiped appearance. Such distinctly different appearance to a new shell from only
a few running hours at the trials leaves often the owner and class with little
confidence in the future performance of the bearings.
From our experience we positively know that the problem is of cosmetic nature,
and that the long-term performance is good regardless of the appearance after the
trials.

Wiping of overlayer after shoptest

Same bearing after dressing up

Tearing of overlayer after shoptest

Same bearing after dressing up

AlSn40 alloy bearing metal in crosshead bearings.

(Referring to MBD Service Letter SL 87-219/UM for more information).
The above applies in general to crosshead bearings regardless of the bearing
metal type, either white metal (larger engines) or AlSn40 / tin-aluminium (smaller
engines). But since the applicance of the lead-alloy overlay to AlSn40 requires a
bonding layer between the AlSn40 and the overlay AlSn40 bearings suffer from
some typical appearance problems.
Originally when AlSn40 was introduces in crosshead bearings, the bonding layer
used was pure Ni (nickel). Since Ni is a hard material it is important that it is not
exposed to direct contact to the pin in larger areas (more than 5% of the active
bearing surface). Larger exposed areas caused by abnormal wear is believed to
cause high friction between the crosshead-pin and the bearing shell in cases
where the bearings for some reason have been starved for oil with subsequent oil
mist and possible crankcase explosion to follow.
Note: The max. 5% exposed Ni area applies only if it is due to actual wear, not if
the lead-alloy has been detached in small patches spread over the active bearing

surface. This is because the lead-alloy will in such cases still have sufficient
thickness to ensure that there is no contact between the crosshead-pin and the Ni
bonding layer.
To avoid the potential problems with the Ni bonding layer, MBD has together
with BHW parallel to the Ni bonding layer bearings developed a bonding layer of
pure Ag (silver). The soft Ag bonding layer means that even if excessive wear has
taken place there is no risk of overheating, as long as there is bearing metal
(AlSn40) left. But while the lead-alloy bonds very well to white metal and
acceptable to the Ni bonding layer, it bonds only moderately to Ag. That has the
consequence that the before mentioned appearance problems can be more
noticeable on crosshead bearings with Ag bonding layer than on other types of
bearings. It is however as described above in most cases only of consequence to
the appearance and not to the service capabilities.
We hope the above will improve the understanding and evaluation of crosshead
bearings after the trials, and we hope it will prove helpful in possible discussions
between the parties at the inspections after the trials.

Light pitting of the overlayer

Peel off of the overlayer, yet acceptable

MBD R&D Dept.

Tribology group
2004