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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.

Due to several market demands of higher wear and scuffing resistance, Duplex PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) CrN top ring has been used in Heavy Duty Diesel (HDD) engines. The ring comprises a nitrided high chromium stainless steel with a PVD ceramic CrN coating. For High Speed Diesel (HSD) vehicles with lower demands, MAHLE has developed an alternative PVD coated ring, which balances the cost and performance ratio. This alternative, named High Value PVD (HV-PVD), consists of applying the best resistant coating for wear and scuffing, PVD, onto a less costly ring material, Ductile Cast Iron. The HV-PVD top ring has been tested in HSD engines and shown excellent performance. Additional advantages of the HV-PVD are its lower friction coefficient and better tribological compatibility with the cylinder bore materials when compared to the traditional galvanic chrome based coatings. Such features lead to reduced engine friction and lower cylinder wear.

The use of Biodiesel is one of the main drivers behind biomass fuels for diesel engine use. This paper compares the performance of powercell components after 100 thousand km field tests using different fuel variants. The tested engine was a 3.0L High Speed Diesel with 120kW @ 3800rpm. Two variants of B5 fuels were tested: one with oil from Soy Bean and other from Castor Bean. Each type of fuel, including regular Diesel, was tested twice. Compared to regular Diesel, the engines tested with B5 presented similar performance [1]. The evaluated powercell parts were: piston, rings, bearings, and cylinder bores. The parts were evaluated in terms of wear, seizure and corrosion. The parts from the B5 tests presented similar visual characteristics after test compared with regular Diesel. A slight wear increase was observed on the parts that ran with the B5 variants. In the case of bearings, corrosion residues were observed with B5 from Castor oil.

For years the chromium ceramic coating has proved to have good resistance when applied for Diesel engines subjected to severe operational conditions. However, given the constant increase of engine demands and the concern of low gas emissions, higher wear resistance and durability have been required. As a consequence, MAHLE has developed a new chromium-based coating, which balances the cost competitiveness of chromium-based coatings with enhanced performance. The new coating, named NanoBor Chromium, consists of reinforced chromium coating with ultrafine cBN particles (cBN = cubic boron nitride) embedded inside micro-fissures created by a controlled multi-stage electrochemical process. The tests in MDD engines (MDD=Medium-duty diesel) and HDD engines (HDD= Heavy-duty diesel) have demonstrated the excellent performance of NanoBor Cr as new alternative for heavily demanded application.

Changing emission legislation limits are challenging the engine developers in many aspects. Requirement to improve combustion and engine efficiency have resulted in increased loads and higher levels of abrasive particles within the engine environment. Concerning piston rings and piston ring grooves, such engine modifications are leading to critical tribological conditions and side wear is becoming a key issue in the design of these components. Historically one of the most common forms of side wear protection on piston rings has been chromium plate. This solution has limitations on durability (low thickness) and on topography (rough surfaces). In response to these limitations, nitrided stainless steel top rings have been used to improve the side protection; it is harder and typically has a smoother surface finish when compared to chromium coating.

Two electrical fuel pumps were performed with different fuels in two different vehicles. The pumps accumulated 60.000 km and 190.000 km in passenger cars. Both vehicles and pumps were designed to operate exclusively with gasohol (E22), one of the pumps was tested with 60% ethanol in volume of gasoline blend (E60) for 60.000 km from June-2001 to February-2004. The other pump was tested with gasohol (E22) for 190.000 km from August 2000 to February-2004. The test conditions represented the actual use of the vehicles. Such test is not common vehicle manufacturers practice application because it requires a considered long period of time for evaluation procedure. This test helps both the analysis of soak time influence and the running time. This paper presents a tribological analysis of the components in order to compare the influence of both fuels on wear mechanisms or other degradation that could be influenced by the non usual E60 fuel.

In comparison to aluminum, Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) iron has superior mechanical properties, enables the use of parent bore running surfaces and fracture split main bearings, and provides advantageous NVH, package size, cost, and manufacturing CO2 profiles. Despite these advantages, aluminum blocks have leveraged density, and therefore weight, differentials to make considerable gains in the small, in-line passenger vehicle sector over the last 30 years. In order to demonstrate the potential benefits of CGI for small, in-line spark-ignition engines, the present study converted the cylinder block of a series production 1.2 litre three-cylinder engine from aluminum to CGI. Leveraging a novel design concept, with the running surface and load path constructed from high-strength CGI and the outer crankcase housing fabricated from durable, lightweight plastic, the assembled cylinder block achieved the same weight as the original aluminum block.

One of the most promising applications for the use of hydrogen in vehicles is in the combustion engine. According to the legislation proposal being considered by European Union, hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE) are zero emissions solution. Among the existing solutions, H2ICE is becoming the preferred one on long haul trucks and offroad applications. This is due to the high durability of the powertrain, the lower initial investment when compared to other alternatives, and the possibility of using low purity hydrogen. However, despite the high potential use of hydrogen, because of it is the smallest known chemical element, its use can result in the penetration of hydrogen into metallic materials, with the undesirable effect of embrittlement. This effect occurs mainly when the material surface is exposed to high temperatures and pressures, or under corrosion.