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In lubricating and specialty oil industries, blending is routinely used to convert a finite number of distillation cuts produced by a refinery into a large number of final products matching given specifications regarding viscosity, flash point, pour point or other properties of interest. To find the right component ratio for a blend, empirical or semi-empirical equations linking blend characteristics to those of the individual components are used. Mathematically, the problem of finding the right blend composition boils down to solving a system of equations, often non-linear ones, linking the desired properties of the blend with the properties and percentage of the blend components. This approach can easily be extended to crankcase lubricants, in which case major blend constituents are base oils, additive packages, and viscosity index improvers. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools allow accurate predictions of the basic physicochemical properties of such blends.

On urban and emission homologation cycles, engines operate predominantly at low speeds and part loads where engine friction losses represent around 10% of the consumed fuel energy but would account for 25% of the fuel consumption once combustion efficiency is taken into account. Under such mild conditions, engine and engine oil temperatures are also lower than ideal. The influence of oil viscosity on friction losses are significant. By reducing lubricant viscosity, engine friction, fuel consumption and emissions are reduced. Tribological and machine learning models were investigated to predict the effect of oil viscosity on fuel consumption during the FTP75 emission cycle with the use of detailed actual emission test measurements. Oil viscosity was calculated with the measured oil temperature. As the same vehicle transient is followed in the cold and hot phases, the models were evaluated by comparing their prediction of fuel consumption in the hot phase versus the measured value.

The piston assembly is the major source of tribological inefficiencies among the engine components and is responsible for about 50% of the total engine friction losses, making such a system the main target element for developing low-friction technologies. Being a reciprocating system, the piston assembly can operate in boundary, mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication regimes. Computer simulations were used to investigate the synergistic effect between low viscosity oils and cylinder bore finishes on friction reduction of passenger car internal combustion engines. First, the Reynolds equation and the Greenwood & Tripp model were used to investigating the hydrodynamic and asperity contact pressures in the top piston ring. The classical Reynolds works well for barrel-shaped profiles and relatively thick oil film thickness but has limitations for predicting the lubrication behavior of flat parallel surfaces, such as those of Oil Control Ring (OCR) outer lands.

In the present work, a system approach to the tribological optimization of passenger car engines is demonstrated. Experimental data and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the role of surface specifications, ring pack, and lubricant on the piston/bore tribology. The importance of in-design “pairing” of low-viscosity motor oils with the ring pack and the cylinder bore characteristics in order to achieve maximum reduction in GHG emissions and improvement in fuel economy without sacrificing the endurance is elucidated. Earlier motored friction data for two different gasoline engines - Ford Duratec and Mercedes Benz M133 - using motor oils of different viscosity grades are now rationalized using AVL EXCITE® piston/bore tribology simulations. The main difference between the engines was the cylinder bore surface: honed cast iron vs thermally sprayed, and the valve train type: direct-acting mechanical bucket (DAMB) vs roller finger follower (RFF).

With the worldwide trend towards CO2 emission reduction, renewable fuels such as ethanol are gaining further importance. However, the use of ethanol as a fuel can bring some tribological impacts. Friction and wear of engine parts when lubricants are contaminated with ethanol are not very well understood. Within this scenario, the present paper introduces a new procedure to investigate the ethanol dilution on the performance of engine oils. Friction and wear of actual piston ring and liner were evaluated in a reciprocating test designed to emulate real thermomechanical conditions of both urban and highway car use. In addition to fresh oil, lubricant/ethanol emulsions were prepared carefully following two different procedures - unheated and heated mixing. The former to emulate cold start and “bakery” driving use, the latter to reproduce what happens after the engine heats in normal conditions.

Low viscosity combined with appropriated additive technology is one of the main paths to reduce friction on Internal Combustion Engines. Japan is on the cutting edge of low viscosity oils, having already available SAE 0W-8 in the market. On the other hands, in emergent countries like Brazil, SAE 15W-40 is still used in some passenger cars while the Japanese origin car brands use SAE 0W-20. Lubricant friction additives type also differs depending on the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) origin, and the Japanese ones usually containing high amounts of the Molybdenum type. In this paper, some of the advantages and challenges of using low viscosity oils are discussed and emphasis is given in the friction reduction obtained with the synergic effects of the right choice of additives components type and the material/coating used in the engine parts. Ring-liner rig and floating liner engine tests comparing different oils will be presented.

Despite the influence of folded metal material on the lubrication performance of engine cylinder liners has been largely investigated, its effect has not been isolated yet in terms of other surface parameters as Sa, Sq, Vo, Rpk etc. In the present contribution, the isolated effect of folded metal on the performance of engine cylinder liners was investigated by comparing the hydrodynamic and asperity contact pressures through a deterministic mixed lubrication model. From that, the friction coefficients and the engine friction losses were also estimated. The topography of a production car engine block was characterized employing a Non-Contact Surface Profiler System. Folded metal was quantified using in-house algorithms, and so its occurrences were digitally removed. Afterwards, the surfaces with and without folded metal were studied with the deterministic model.

Many countries are introducing fuel economy regulations in order to reduce the average emissions of light duty vehicles, since fuel consumption of vehicles is an important factor in air pollution. The lubricant has a significant role in reducing friction losses hence the fuel consumption, but the impact depends on the engine operation regime and the manner in which the lubricant components work together to change frictional properties. Different driving cycles are used by different countries and organizations to measure fuel consumption. The most common driving cycles are the European NEDC and the North American FTP-75 vehicle transient cycles. Fuel economy at full load and BSFC (Brake Specific Fuel consumption) are also common methods of measuring engine fuel economy.

Five automotive oils, with different viscosity grades, were tested under different loads and speeds in a reciprocating test using piston rings and cylinder liners. Starved and fully-flooded conditions were also considered in order to analyze the influence of lubricant supplier in the lubrication regimes, especially in boundary-mixed transition. The expected Stribeck curve behavior was observed, and more interesting visualization appeared when the viscosity value was extracted from the Stribeck abscissa axis. The higher viscosity oils showed lower friction coefficient at low speed/load ratios. Such behavior is usually neglected and may be significant to understand the triblogical behaviour of engineering components. Computer simulation showed similar results, including the “cross-over” speed/load when the lower viscosity oils start to show lower friction.

Piston ring radial pressure effects both the manufacturability of the ring as well as its performance in the engine. While lack of radial contact can cause increased blow-by and lubricant oil consumption, high local contact pressure can cause excessive wear and even scuffing. Current methods to evaluate ring radial pressure fail to identify subtle, local pressure changes. To overcome such limitation, a new method to evaluate ring radial pressure at each peripheral angle was developed. In this experimental procedure, the ring free shape is recorded by an optical device and then this free shape is used as input to code that calculates its radial pressure distribution. In order to validate this method, six different sample variants of ring pressure distribution, (i.e. free shape), have their radial pressure evaluated by two different methods: 1,) the new procedure and 2,) a mechanical jig with 11 circumferentially spaced radial load sensors.

With the current use of bio-renewable fuel, the application of Ethanol in Flex-Fuel vehicles presents a very low CO2 emission alternative when the complete cycle, from plantation, fuel production, till vehicle use, is considered. In Brazil more than 80% of the car production is composed of Flex-Fuel vehicles. Due to the lower heating content of the Ethanol, more aggressive combustion calibrations are used to obtain the same engine power than when burning gasoline. Such Ethanol demands, associated with the continuous increase of engine specific power has lead to thermo-mechanical loads which challenges the tribology of piston rings. The ethanol use brings also some specific tribological differences not very well understood like fuel dilution in the lube oil, especially on cold start, corrosive environment etc. Under specific driving conditions, incipient failures like spalling on nitrided steel top rings have been observed.

This work compares the typical manufacturing process of cast iron piston rings with chromium or molybdenum coating with the more recent nitriding steel process. Environmental impact of the processes is estimated by their material losses, consumption of energy and hazardous waste. Despite all technological development, the nowadays production process of a typical piston ring still implies that the finished part has only 30% of the iron initially cast. A more recent design, nitrided steel piston ring, reduces substantially material losses during the part manufacturing. It also substitutes high polluter processes as chromium plating or metal spray for the lower polluter gas nitriding. Production of Nitrided Steel Rings (NSR) uses 40% less energy, needs 78% less raw material and produces almost 10 times less hazardous waste. NSR has significant lower environmental impact in comparison with the traditional Coated Iron Ring (CIR). NSR also has environmental advantages during use.

The cylinder bore honing quality is an essential factor for a good engine performance and durability. A bad surface finish can result in an excessive lubricant oil consumption, high piston ring wear and scuffing occurrence. In this paper the most important characteristics of bore honing for cast iron cylinders and their influence in the combustion engine performance are described and discussed. Despite its importance, the bore honing is commonly undervalued due to various reasons including the difficulty of a practical but sufficient method of quality qualifying. Some honing commonly misunderstood concepts are detailed and SEM photographs of bore surface from both good and bad finish are presented. At the end of this paper it is also presented a recommendation for a practical evaluation method of honing quality.