Tribological performance of three surface-modified piston rings matched with chromium-plated cylinder liner

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Zhu ◽  
Jiujun Xu ◽  
Xiaoguang Han ◽  
Yan Shen ◽  
Mei Jin

Purpose The paper aims to investigate the friction and wear properties of three surface-modified piston rings matched with a chromium-plated cylinder liner. Design/methodology/approach Samples were taken from the chromium-plated cylinder liner, Cr-Al2O3 ring, CrN ring and Mo ring. Tribo-tests were conducted on a reciprocating sliding tribometer under fully formulated engine oils. Friction coefficients and wear depths of three friction pairs were tested. Surface morphologies of cylinder liners and piston rings before and after test were analyzed. Findings Experimental results show that in the Cr-Al2O3 piston ring, scuffing occurred easily when matched with the chromium-plated cylinder liner; compared with the Mo ring, the CrN ring could decrease the wear depth of the piston ring from 2.7 to 0.2 μm, and the wear depth of cylinder liner remained; however, the friction coefficient increased from 0.113 to 0.123. The tribological performances of three surface-modified piston rings were significantly different when they matched with chromium-plated cylinder liner. Originality/value Chromium-plated cylinder liner and the three kinds of surface-modified piston rings have excellent friction and wear properties, respectively. However, according to the systematic characteristics of internal combustion (IC) engine tribology, only the appropriate cylinder liner–piston ring can improve the tribological performance of the IC engine. This paper reports the tribological performance of three surface-modified piston rings matched with a chromium-plated cylinder liner. The results can be used as reference for the design of high-power-density diesel engine.

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wopelka ◽  
Ulrike Cihak-Bayr ◽  
Claudia Lenauer ◽  
Ferenc Ditrói ◽  
Sándor Takács ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the wear behaviour of different materials for cylinder liners and piston rings in a linear reciprocating tribometer with special focus on the wear of the cylinder liner in the boundary lubrication regime. Design/methodology/approach Conventional nitrided steel, as well as diamond-like carbon and chromium nitride-coated piston rings, were tested against cast iron, AlSi and Fe-coated AlSi cylinder liners. The experiments were carried out with samples produced from original engine parts to have the original surface topography available. Radioactive tracer isotopes were used to measure cylinder liner wear continuously, enabling separation of running-in and steady-state wear. Findings A ranking of the material pairings with respect to wear behaviour of the cylinder liner was found. Post-test inspection of the cylinder samples by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed differences in the wear mechanisms for the different material combinations. The results show that the running-in and steady-state wear of the liners can be reduced by choosing the appropriate material for the piston ring. Originality/value The use of original engine parts in a closely controlled tribometer environment under realistic loading conditions, in conjunction with continuous and highly sensitive wear measurement methods and a detailed SEM analysis of the wear mechanisms, forms an intermediate step between engine testing and laboratory environment testing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkateswara Babu P. ◽  
Ismail Syed ◽  
Satish Ben Beera

Purpose In an internal combustion engine, piston ring-cylinder liner tribo pair is one among the most critical rubbing pairs. Most of the energy produced by an internal combustion engine is dissipated as frictional losses of which major portion is contributed by the piston ring-cylinder liner tribo pair. Hence, proper design of tribological parameters of piston ring-cylinder liner pair is essential and can effectively reduce the friction and wear, thereby improving the tribological performance of the engine. This paper aims to use surface texturing, an effective and feasible method, to improve the tribological performance of piston ring-cylinder liner tribo pair. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, influence of positive texturing (protruding) on friction reduction and wear resistance of piston ring surfaces was studied. The square-shaped positive textures were fabricated on piston ring surface by chemical etching method, and the experiments were conducted with textured piston ring surfaces against un-textured cylinder liner surface on pin-on-disc apparatus by continuous supply of lubricant at the inlet of contact zone. The parameters varied in this study are area density and normal load at a constant sliding speed. A comparison was made between the tribological properties of textured and un-textured piston ring surfaces. Findings From the experimental results, the tribological performance of the textured piston ring-cylinder liner tribo pair was significantly improved over a un-textured tribo pair. A maximum friction reduction of 67.6 per cent and wear resistance of 81.6 per cent were observed with textured ring surfaces as compared to un-textured ring surfaces. Originality/value This experimental study is helpful for better understanding of the potency of positive texturing on friction reduction and wear resistance of piston ring-cylinder liner tribo pair under lubricated sliding conditions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yali Zhang ◽  
Xiaogang Zhang ◽  
Tonghai Wu ◽  
You-bai Xie

Purpose – The piston ring-cylinder liner pair is one of the most important tribological systems of an internal combustion engine. The friction loss of the piston ring-cylinder liner pair accounts for the largest portion of total efficiency losses. Therefore, improving the tribological system design of the piston ring-cylinder liner pair can reduce friction losses and bring tremendous economic benefits to society. This paper aims use surface texturing, which is proving to be an effective method, for improving the tribological performance of sliding surfaces. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, an experimental study using a pin-on-disk tribometer was carried out to evaluate the effects of surface texturing on friction reduction of piston rings under various loads and sliding velocities. Rectangular- and circular-shaped textures with different depths and area densities were produced by a Femtosecond laser. Comparison experiments were conducted with un-textured rings. Findings – The results indicate that the friction performance of the ring surface was significantly improved by surface texturing, and the running-in stage was also shortened. More specifically, it was found that the rectangular-shaped texture had a better effect on friction reduction than the circular-shaped texture. Results also indicate that an optimum texture density existed for the rectangular-shaped texture. Additionally, it was observed that the average friction coefficient reduction of the textured ring decreased with increasing load and increased with increasing sliding velocity. Originality/value – Consequently, these findings provide a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between micro-textures and tribological properties of piston rings in lubricating sliding.


Author(s):  
Bifeng Yin ◽  
Shao Sun ◽  
Bowen Wang ◽  
Yanqiang Qian

With the increasingly stringent requirements on energy saving and environmental-friendly for internal combustion (IC) engine, new concepts like novel combustion mode and surface texturing technology have emerged. In order to have deep understanding about the application effects of surface texturing into IC engine with new combustion mode, a mixed lubrication calculation model considering surface textures on cylinder liner together with different combustion modes has been built in the present work based on a four-cylinder diesel engine. The numerical research was conducted on the change of the surface tribological performance of textured cylinder liner under different combustion modes. The simulation results indicate that compared with the conventional combustion (CC) mode, the combustion phase of premixed charge combustion ignition (PCCI) mode and retarded injection (RI) mode varies and their in-cylinder peak pressure is different at the beginning of power stroke due to different injection strategies applied, which lead to significant differences between piston ring radial working loads. Near TDC, the mixed lubrication duration of PCCI and RI mode increases slightly in comparison to that of CC mode, and these three boundary lubrication durations are almost same. However, the thickness of lubricant film between friction pair of three modes is quite different, resulting in their different tribological properties. Among these parameters, the dimensionless total friction force (DTFF) and the dimensionless friction work of PCCI mode increase by 82.37% and 18.41% at most, respectively, while those of RI mode decrease by 36.50% and 12.45% at most, respectively, compared with the same parameters of CC mode. Therefore, the variations in tribological property of the textured cylinder liner–piston ring (CLPR) with different combustion modes should not be ignored.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Anand ◽  
M Hadfield ◽  
JL Viesca ◽  
B Thomas

An investigation was carried out to study the effect of changes in oil quality on its tribological performance using a tuning fork technology based oil sensor. In this research, a tribological testing system was commissioned, to simulate the piston ring-cylinder liner sliding contact, and to measure the lubricant condition in real-time using an oil sensor. Tribological contact between cylinder liners and piston rings in marine engines is the most affected region due to excessive thermo-mechanical stresses. At top dead centre, the effect of such stresses is at a maximum where piston-sliding speed is lowest, while the temperature is high due to fuel combustion, and radial load behind the piston rings compressing against the cylinder liner surface is at a maximum due to gas pressure and the compression fit of piston rings within the cylinder liner. At bottom dead centre, this effect is less severe due to a reduction in temperature and gas pressure on the piston rings, as the piston is positioned away from the combustion chamber. These two regions experience boundary lubrication conditions, where anti-wear and anti-friction additives are responsible for forming a protective lubricious film on sliding surfaces. At mid-stroke, piston-sliding speed is maximum, therefore, a full hydrodynamic film is formed in this region separating the piston rings and cylinder liner. The formation of oil film depends upon, the physical properties of oil (such as viscosity and density) under hydrodynamic lubrication conditions, and the oil chemistry (such as presence of additives in oil) under mixed or boundary lubrication conditions. Lubricants in marine engines undergo intense degradation in quality due to contamination with wear particles, water, soot, un-burnt fuel, coolant, and additives depletion. Such degradation of lubricants leads to a reduction in their capability to form a minimum thickness of oil film between two moving engine components to avoid direct metal-to-metal contact, which may cause wear. Therefore, monitoring the condition of marine engine lubricants is vital in order to predict any significant change in its quality. The results obtained from tribology testing and oil condition monitoring in the current research showed a good correlation and are useful to understand the performance of lubricants for piston ring-liner contacts.


Author(s):  
Zhan Liu ◽  
Fuxiang Liang ◽  
Liming Zhai ◽  
Xianghui Meng

The tribological performance of the piston ring–cylinder liner pair is affected by multiple factors. In this study, the orthogonal test method is used to comprehensively explore the influence of oil dilution, cylinder liner surface coating, and working conditions on the friction and wear of the piston ring–cylinder liner pair. The orthogonal test results show that a certain degree of oil dilution is beneficial to the performance, so the influence of oil dilution is further investigated by using the control variable method. The results show that the liner wear depth decreases first and then increases with the increase of oil dilution. Combined with the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results, it is found that the formation of tribofilm is promoted with a small amount of oil dilution under different working conditions. Meanwhile, a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating ring and an Fe-based coating cylinder liner can significantly improve the scuffing resistance performance of the piston ring–cylinder liner pair.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 1206-1212
Author(s):  
Jianpeng Wu ◽  
Biao Ma ◽  
Heyan Li ◽  
Chengnan Ma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study friction and wear properties of three types of steels against paper-based friction disc, including 65Mn, 20#steel and 30CrAl, so as to obtain the appropriate working conditions for different friction materials in the transmission system. Design/methodology/approach Based on actual working conditions, pin-on-disc tests are conducted on a universal material tester. The two evaluation indexes, including average friction coefficient and variation coefficient, are introduced to analyze the different friction properties among three types of steel. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent wear pattern and wear depth are subsequently studied. Findings The results show that 65Mn is more suitable for working under heavy load and low velocity, but 30CrAl and 20#steel are suitable for working under light load and high velocity. Moreover, wear primarily occurs on paper-based material and peaks at about 325. Practical implications This research of different materials and friction property for friction pairs is helpful to improve the performance and prolong the service life of transmission systems. Originality/value Suitable working conditions of different friction materials are obtained, and the correlation between wear and decomposition in high temperature is verified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 1706-1713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guotao Zhang ◽  
Yanguo Yin ◽  
Ting Xie ◽  
Dan Li ◽  
Ming Xu ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to obtain high mechanical and good tribological properties of epoxy resin-based coatings under dry friction conditions. Design/methodology/approach Bonded solid lubricant coatings containing Kevlar fibres were prepared by a spraying method. The friction and wear properties of the coatings were experimentally investigated with a face-to-face tribometre under dry friction conditions. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and 3D laser scanning technologies were used to characterise the tribological properties. The action mechanism of the Kevlar fibres on a solid lubricant transfer film was also analysed. Findings Adding Kevlar fibres can significantly improve the wear resistance of the coatings. When the Kevlar fibre content increases, the tribological properties of the coatings improve and then worsen. Superior properties are obtained with 0.03 g of Kevlar fibres. Appropriately increasing the load or speed is beneficial to the removal of the outer epoxy resin and the formation of a lubricant film. During friction, the solid lubricants wrapped in the epoxy resin accumulate on the surface to form a transfer film that shows a good self-lubricating performance. In the later friction stage, fatigue cracks occur on the solid lubricant film but cannot connect to one another because of the high wear resistance and the entanglement of the rod-like Kevlar fibres. Thus, no large-area film falls from the matrix, thereby ensuring the long-term functioning of solid lubricant coatings. Originality/value Epoxy resin-based solid lubricant coatings modified by Kevlar fibres were prepared, and their friction and wear properties were investigated. Their tribological mechanisms were also proposed. This work provided a basis for the analysis of the tribological properties and design of bonded solid lubricant coatings containing Kevlar fibres.


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