Tin bronzes have high strength and fatigue limits as well as a high resistance against wear. For that reason they proved to be a good material for heavily loaded plain bearings, which can also carry dynamic loads. Adding lead reduces the hardness of tin bronzes to 50 HB, improves the adaptability, absorbency of hard particles and increases resistance against seizing without a significant drop in strength values.
Adding aluminum reaches high values of bronze hardness, from 140 to 160 HB, and also increases the strength, which determines this material type for the most loaded bushings at low sliding speed. Adding zinc makes red bronzes with low values of hardness, about 60 MB, which have an excellent resistance to seizing.
For copper alloys, the upper limit of allowable operation temperatures is determined by the highest allowable temperature of the lubricant used. A temperature of 150 °C should not be exceeded with tin bronzes with a high lead content. The recommended surface texture for bushings is 0.4 and for shafts 0.2 microns. The maximum load capacity ranges from 28 MPa to 35 MPa for circumferential speed from 1 to 2 m/sec, for a speed of 10 m/sec, a maximum load capacity of up to 3 MPa is given. For bronzes with lead and zinc additives, the maximum load capacity of up to 42 MPa is given. Using tin bronzes is not advantageous for economic reasons.