AMES manufactures self-lubricating bearings according to all standards of sintered materials in the market.

Materials offered by AMES are:

• Bronze. It has very low friction coefficient, typically around 0.02 at the usual working PV’s. Bronze 90/10 is the most commonly used in the market. AMES has developed the Ames-A4^® bronze, which has lower friction coefficient than bronze 90/10, i.e., 0.02.
• Bronze Ames-E47^®. This bronze with special alloying has high corrosion resistance against impure fuels. Its use is for fuel pumps.
• Iron. This is the lowest cost material, but its friction coefficient is much higher than that of bronze, approximately 0.08. Typical compositions are pure Fe, Fe-C, Fe-Cu, and Fe-Cu-C.
• Iron-Based composite materials. Materials Ames-IBC-S^® and Ames-IBC-H^® have lower friction coefficient than any other iron in the market, approximately 0.04-0.06, at an equivalent cost. Fe-Bronze mixes have similar friction coefficient, but at a higher cost.
• Ames-LFC^®. It is an iron-based material with double layer. Its behaviour at start-stop is better than bronze, although the performance at steady-state conditions is the same. Applications where the friction coefficient or the noise level are critical are ideal for this material. Its price is between bronze and iron. The Ames-LFB^® version is especially suitable for assemblies in very critical conditions.
• Aluminum Ames-U4^®. It is suited to resist environment corrosion in applications where bronze and iron show corrosion. This material has a friction behaviour in-between bronze and iron, with lower price than bronze. The Ames-U5^® version provides greater load capacity.

It is common to add different types of solid lubricants to these materials to improve bearing performance under certain conditions.