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Lubrication of advanced high temperature engines has been one of the greatest obstacles in the development of the Adiabatic engine. Liquid lubricants which gave lubricating properties as well as heat removal function can no longer carry out this duty when piston ring top ring reversal temperatures approach 540°C. Solid lubricants offer some hope. Since solid lubricants cannot perform the heat removal function, its coefficient of friction must be very low, at least <0.10, in order to prevent heat build up and subsequent destruction to the piston rings and cylinder liners. The Hybrid Piston concept developed in the U.S. Army Advanced Tribology program offers some hope, since the top solid lubricant ring slides over the bottom hydrodynamic lubricant film section during each stroke. This paper presents the progress made with the solid lubricant top ring in the Hybrid Piston. Four materials have shown promise in the laboratory to fullfil its mission.

New high-temperature lubricants are being developed for future U.S. Army low heat rejection diesel engines. Compared to the best previous low heat rejection diesel engine lubricant, the first new lubricant developed was shown to (1) be less volatile, (2) have 55°C (100°F) greater oxidative stability, and (3) increase high-temperature single cylinder engine life more than five times. The new lubricant successfully completed a 400 hr multicylinder engine test in a U.S. Army 5-ton truck adiabatic engine. Lubricant property changes, engine wear, deposits and oil consumption were all very low. Two additional new liquid lubricants were developed for operation at higher engine temperatures than those of the 5-ton truck. Engine tests of these new lubricants will be conducted in the near future. Hybrid liquid/solid lubricants were formulated and evaluated for potential reduction of wear and friction at high temperature, with mixed results.

The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command is developing a future high power, low heat rejection military diesel engine. Performance requirements for the engine result in a predicted cylinder wall temperature of 560°C at the top piston ring reversal location. Thermal stresses imposed on the lubricant will therefore be unusually severe. Midwest Research Institute is developing the tribological system for this engine. A new general concept for high temperature diesel engine lubrication has been formulated. Our concept includes advanced synthetic liquid lubricants, solid lubricant additives, and self-lubricating materials. The lubricants, additives, and materials that have been selected for initial laboratory and engine evaluations of the concept are reported here.

The high temperature tribology issue for uncooled Low Heat Rejection (LHR) diesel engines where the cylinder liner piston ring interface exceeds temperatures of 225°C to 250°C has existed for decades. It is a problem that has persistently prohibited advances in non-watercooled LHR engine development. Though the problem is not specific to non-watercooled LHR diesel engines, it is the topic of this research study for the past two and one half years. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, a tremendous amount of research had been placed upon the development of the LHR diesel engine. LHR engine finite element design and cycle simulation models had been generated. Many of these projected the cylinder liner piston ring top ring reversal (TRR) temperature to exceed 540°C[1]. In order for the LHR diesel to succeed, a tribological solution for these high TRR temperatures had to be developed.