AbstractJournal bearings and other well‐defined sliding surfaces are important for numerous moving mechanical assemblies. Quite often sliding surfaces are produced on particular components during fabrication, for which reason the manufacturer needs to know the properties of the materials in order to optimise production processes and the running‐in characteristics of the sliding surfaces. This paper describes application‐orientated tests to support the selection of ceramic materials for water‐lubricated and unlubricated journal bearings and similar sliding surfaces. The ceramics studied were different grades of alumina, sialon, silicon carbide, and zirconia. The most promising results were obtained with a dense, sintered silicon carbide.