babbitt metal

Babbitt metal, an antifriction metal first produced by Isaac Babbitt in 1839. 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.

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babbitt metal [′bab·ət ‚med·əl]

(metallurgy)

Any of the white alloys composed primarily of tin or lead and of lesser amounts of antimony, copper, and perhaps other metals, and used for bearings.