Babbitt's metal
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Antifriction alloy of copper, antimony, and tin used as bearing material for axles and crankshafts, occasionally in dentistry for dies and counterdies in swaging dental plates.
Description
Antifriction alloy of copper, antimony, and tin used as bearing material for axles and crankshafts, occasionally in dentistry for dies and counterdies in swaging dental plates. In present-day usage the term is applied to a whole class of silver-white bearing metals, or “white metals.” These alloys usually consist of relatively hard crystals embedded in a softer matrix, a structure important for machine bearings. They are composed primarily of tin, copper, and antimony, with traces of other metals added in some cases and lead substituted for tin in others.