The article deals with improving the efficiency and increasing the service life of gas bearings of ship turbomachines. It presents the results of the authors' work which is an experimental plant for studying the protective coatings of the working surfaces of gas bearings operating in dry friction mode. When the machine starts up before the formation of the gas layer, the bearing operates in the dry friction regime, which results in distorting the geometric characteristics. To address this

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... m, it is necessary to use protective coatings and materials having certain characteristics. The article outlines the reasoning of the choice of protective coatings, materials and promising technologies of surface modification with the help of plasma electrolytic oxidation and laser-assisted deposition. Basing on the method of examining antfrictional materials and coatings, there has been chosen the simulation method. The article contains design characteristics and operational features of the plant as well as basic characteristics and dependences of changes of the friction torque and rotation frequency on time under the invariable loading.