Composite coating for a plain bearing of an internal combustion engine and method of deposition

A method of electroplating a tin composite overlay coating is described. The method comprises plating a tin or tin-based matrix with embedded particles for application in bearings of internal combustion engines. A method of forming a particulate composite tin or tin-based alloy overlay on a sliding bearing. The tin composite overlay of a bearing is pulse plated from a bath containing particulates. The bath with particles is can be treated by the combination of ultrasonic and mechanical agitation. A thin layer of tin may also be applied, between the tin composition overlay and the substrate to improve the bonding. The sliding bearing also has a backing layer upon which is bonded a bearing layer, an interlayer layer may be provided on the bearing layer and the particulate composite overlay is formed on the interlayer, where the interlayer comprises tin and has a thickness of 2.5 microns or less. The composite overlay comprises particles dispersed in tin or a tin-based alloy matrix, and where the particles have an average particle size in the matrix of no more than 1.0 micron and the overlay has a thickness of 5-50µm. The content of particles in the overlay matrix is from 1.5 to 5.0 wt%.