Wear and sliding friction properties of a number of nickel alloys operating against hardened SAE 52100 steel were studied. The alloys were cast beryllium nickel, heat-treated beryllium nickel, cast Inconel, Nimonic 80, Inconel X, Refractalloy 26, and Discaloy. Some of the allows studied may be useful as material for cages of rolling-contact bearings that operate at high speeds with temperatures above 600 degrees F in projected aircraft turbine engines or for bearings that operate in corrosive mediums. Desirable operating properties and the absence of extreme mass welding of all the materials could be associated with the development of the sliding surfaces of a naturally formed film of nickel oxide. On the basis of wear and friction properties, cast Inconel performed very well in these experiments and compares favorably with nodular iron. Nimonic 80 also showed promise as a possible cage material.

Wear and sliding friction properties of a number of nickel alloys operating against hardened SAE 52100 steel were studied. These alloys include "L" nickel, wrought monel, cast monel, cast modified "H" monel, cast "S" monel, Invar, Ni-Resist 3, and Nichrome V. Some of the alloys studied may be useful as possible case material for high-temperature, high-speed bearings for aircraft turbines or for bearings to operate in corrosive media. Desirable operating properties of all the materials could be associated with the development on the rider surface of a naturally formed film of nickel oxide. On the basis of wear and friction properties, Ni-Resist 3, modified "H" monel, and Invar were the best materials studied in this investigation although they did not perform as well as nodular iron. "L" nickel performed well with light loads but was not effective at higher loads when the sufrace film broke down.