Abstract
This paper describes a study on the quantitative measurement of the oil film thickness of the porous sintered sliding bearing by the ultrasonic method. The thickness of the oil film generated between shaft and porous sintered sliding bearing is so thin that the oil film thickness is very difficult to be measured. As a basic study of the measurement of oil film thickness of the bearing under running operation by means of the ultrasound, the clearance between the bearing and the shaft under no-running condition was measured by the ultrasonic method, and the relationship between the measured echo ratio and the oil film thickness (clearance) was obtained. The possibility of the measurement of the oil film thickness by the ultrasonic method was clarified by comparing the oil film thickness with the whirling shaft of the bearing under running operation.
