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This paper presents some definitions about the bore surface finishing and its influence on the piston rings performance. The surface finishing of a cylinder is in most of cases obtained by a machining process called honing. In recent years, developments and innovations to the honing process have been implemented. These new surface finishings are being implemented in order to improve the working condition of the system. Some of these developments are presented. This paper also presents some benchmarking of bore finishing for SI engines and case studies showing the influence of the surface finishing on the rings performance, regarding wear, friction and lube oil consumption. The results showed that smoother bore surfaces presented lower friction coefficient and also lower wear on the rings and bores. Finally a recommendation for bore finishing and its evaluation for modern SI engines is given.

Modern SI engines focusing on CO2 emission reduction has been applying flex fuel technology to enable burning biomass fuels. The prime route is the use of ethanol fuel on these engines. The action of designing an engine to run with ethanol and gasoline (Flex-Fueled Engines) affects powercell components in different ways. The mechanical loads are higher to ethanol fuel. The combustion pressure can be increased without the risk of knocking for ethanol while for gasoline the compression rate of the piston is limited due to knocking occurrence. The spark time also occurs earlier which impacts components lubrication once the maximum load happens near the top dead center (TDC) where the sliding speed is lower and consequently there is lower oil film thickness. Such combination of spark time and sliding speed may also affect dynamics which can affect inertia and load composition of engine components.