3M™ Silicon Nitride Cam Roller

3M™ Silicon Nitride Cam Rollers excel in high-stress environments where traditional metal rollers fail due to galling and contact fatigue. Made of extremely durable, wear-resistant 3M™ Silicon Nitride, these rollers are used as part of rocker arm or roller lifter assemblies — components that are subjected to increasing stress levels because of the higher fuel pressures used in today’s heavy-duty engines.

To maintain optimal quality standards, 3M™ Silicon Nitride Cam Rollers are produced at 3M manufacturing plants using unique compositions and processing techniques. These processes yield a fully dense and nonporous microstructure of interlocking needle-shaped grains, a microstructure that toughens the silicon nitride by a crack-deflection process similar to that found in composite materials. The result is a monolithic silicon nitride with extremely high hardness and increased fracture toughness. Additionally, high-precision, high-volume grinding, and super-finishing techniques enable the machining of crown profiles on the outer diameters of cam rollers, helping minimize contact stress and further increasing system reliability. Using this process, components can be produced to net or near-net shape with close tolerances that can be finish-machined.