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It is now a fairly well established fact that excessive ring and cylinder bore wear can result from the operation of an S. I. engine on neat methanol. The mechanism leading to the excessive wear were investigated using both engine and bench tests. Engine tests using prevaporized superheated methanol indicated that the wear results from reactions between the combustion products and the cast iron cylinder liner, where the presence of liquid methanol in the combustion chamber appears to be an important part of the mechanism. These reactions were investigated using a spinning disc combustor. The spinning disc combustor was used to provide a source of burning methanol droplets which were subsequently quenched on a water-cooled cast iron surface. The condensate formed on the cast iron surface was collected and analyzed for chemical composition. Infrared analysis indicated the presence of large quantities of iron formate, a reaction product of iron and formic acid.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS of methanol fuel on spark ignition engine wear and deposits is being conducted using a Ford 2.3-liter engine and a modified ASTM sequence V-D test procedure. This testing indicates that at the low temperature conditions of this procedure, methanol reduces the buildup of engine deposits but greatly increases the engine wear rate. Various experiments to identify the wear mechanisms were conducted in a CLR single-cylinder engine and are reported here.

One of the major problems created by the use of methanol fuels in SI engines is the high cylinder bore and ring wear rates observed during operation at low engine temperatures. The objective of the work reported in this paper was to identify the processes controlling the corrosion/wear mechanism in methanol-fueled, spark-ignition engines. Basically, three different types of experiments were performed during this project. The experiments consisted of: 1. Combustion experiments designed to identify the combustion products of methanol at various locations within a confined methanol flame; 2. Exposure studies designed to define the specific role of each of the combustion products on the corrosion mechanism; 3. Lubricant screening experiments designed to identify the mode of penetration of the oil film, and the location, in the microscale, of the surface attack. Performic acid was identified as the corrosive agent.