Fracture Problem of the Valve of Piston Engine

In this paper the fracture problem of exhaust valve of the piston engine was investigated. Visual inspection showed that on the fractured surface of the valve the beach marks, typical for fatigue failure were observed. The crack origin was not covered by corrosion products or material defects. In order to explain the reasons of damage of the valve, the non-linear finite element method was utilized. The numerical model composed of the poppet valve, the guide and the seat face was defined. In the analysis both the mechanical load resulting from the valve spring and also the thermal load arising from a non-uniform temperature field were defined. The loads were at first defined separately in order to check which load component has a dominant influence on the stress level. In third load case (which represents the operational thermo-mechanical engine conditions) the mentioned loads were defined simultaneously. The results of performed computations showed that the operational dynamic stress (in the critical zone of the valve where the crack appeared) is more than 12 times lower than the yield stress of the material. It means that the premature fatigue fracture of the valve was probably caused by any phenomenon concerned with the increase of the operational stress in the valve. The additional observation of the second (non-damaged) valve from the same engine head showed that the carbon deposit was located on the valve face. The results of the stress analysis of the valve with additional carbon particle showed, that in the valve stem a high bending stress was observed.