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(Paint) film as an alternative to spray applied paint has received growing attention in recent years. The potential for economic and environmental advantage and quality enhancement with this technology has been reported in several technical papers (Ref. 1, 3 and 4). The actual practice of film finishing, however, has received only limited notice. Film finishes have been applied to aluminum, stainless steel, PVC, and ABS. Starting in 1982, part applications include: wheel covers, door edge guards, window surrounds, roof drip moldings, lower windshield moldings, rocker panels, body side moldings, B pillars, and A pillars. Industry awareness and acceptance of film finishing as a viable alternative to spray applied paint is increasing. The two technologies are similar in many ways, yet distinctly different in other ways. They share a common goal: To yield a durable finish, economically and with superior visual impact. This paper reviews the unique aspects of film finishing.

The objectives of the present work are to investigate the regulated and unregulated (particle) emissions of a classical and modern 2-stroke and a typical 4-stroke scooter with different ethanol blend fuels. There is also comparison of two different ethanol fuels: pure ethanol (E) *) and hydrous ethanol (EH) which contains 3.9% water and is denatured with 1.5% gasoline. Special attention is paid in this research to the hydrous ethanol, since the production costs of hydrous ethanol are much less than those for (dry) ethanol. The vehicles are with carburettor and without catalyst, which represents the most frequent technology in Eastern Asia and offers the information of engine-out emissions. Exhaust emissions measurements have been performed with fuels containing ethanol (E), or hydrous ethanol (EH) in the portion of 5, 10, 15 and 20% by volume. During the test systematical analysis of particle mass (PM) and nano-particles counts (NP) were carried out.

It has been long established fact that fuel economy is a key driving force of low viscosity gasoline engine oil research and development considered by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and lubricant companies. The development of low viscosity gasoline engine oils should not only focus on fuel economy improvement, but also on the low speed pre-ignition (LSPI) prevention property. In previous LSPI prevention literatures, the necessity of applying Ca/Mg-based detergents system in the engine oil formulations was proposed. In this paper, we adopted a specific Group III base oil containing Ca-salicylate detergent, borated dispersant, Mo-DTC in the formulation and investigated the various effects of Mg-salicylate and Mg-sulfonate on the performance of engine oil. It was found that Mg-sulfonate showed a significant detrimental impact on silicone rubber compatibility while the influence from Mg-salicylate remains acceptable.

To reduce the Body in White (BIW) mass, it is necessary to expand the application of Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) to complex shaped parts. In order to apply AHSS to complex shaped parts with thinner gauge, high formability steel is required. However, higher strength steels tend to display lower elongations, compared with low/medium strength steels. Current AHSS are applied to limited parts for this reason. The new 1.2GPa material, with high formability, was developed to solve this issue. The mechanical property targets for the high elongation 1.2GPa material were achieved by precise metallurgical optimization. Many material aspects were studied, such as formability, weldabilty, impact strength, and delayed fracture. As the result of this development, 1.2GPa AHSS has been applied to a new vehicle launched in 2013.The application of this material was the 1st in the world, and achieved a 11kg mass reduction.

A 1.8L turbocharged diesel engine valvetrain friction was investigated, and the effectiveness of using a solid film lubricant (SFL) coating in reducing friction was determined throughout the operable speed range. This valvetrain design features direct acting mechanical bucket valve lifters. Camshaft journal bearing surfaces and all camshaft rubbing surfaces except lobe tips were coated. The direct acting bucket shims were etched with a cross hatch pattern to a depth sufficient to sustain a SFL film coating on the shim rubbing surfaces subjected to high surface loads. The SFL coated valvetrain torque was evaluated and compared with uncoated baseline torque. Coating the cam bearing journal surfaces alone with II-25D SFL reduced valvetrain friction losses 8 to 17% for 250 to 2000 rpm cam speed range (i.e. 500 - 4000 rpm engine speed). When bucket tappet and shims were also coated with the SFL, further significant reductions in coated valvetrain friction were observed.

An advanced low heat rejection engine concept has successfully completed a 100 hour endurance test. The combustion chamber components were insulated with thermal barrier coatings. The engine components included a titanium piston, titanium headface plate, titanium cylinder liner insert, M2 steel valve guides and monolithic zirconia valve seat inserts. The tribological system was composed of a ceramic chrome oxide coated cylinder liner, chrome carbide coated piston rings and an advanced polyolester class lubricant. The top piston compression ring Included a novel design feature to provide self-cleaning of ring groove lubricant deposits to prevent ring face scuffing. The prototype test engine demonstrated 52 percent reduction in radiator heat rejection with reduced intake air aftercooling and strategic forced oil cooling.

Abstract The ASTM D130 was first issued in 1922 as a tentative standard for the detection of corrosive sulfur in gasoline. A clean copper strip was immersed in a sample of gasoline for three hours at 50°C with any corrosion or discoloration taken to indicate the presence of corrosive sulfur. Since that time, the method has undergone many revisions and has been applied to many petroleum products. Today, the ASTM D130 standard is the leading method used to determine the corrosiveness of various fuels, lubricants, and other hydrocarbon-based solutions to copper. The end-of-test strips are ranked using the ASTM Copper Strip Corrosion Standard Adjunct, a colored reproduction of copper strips characteristic of various degrees of sulfur-induced tarnish and corrosion, first introduced in 1954. This pragmatic approach to assessing potential corrosion concerns with copper hardware has served various industries well for a century.

Two Cummins B5.9L engines were fueled with 100% biodiesel in excess of 48 months by the Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The engines used to power Dodge pickups. The engine lubricating oil was sampled at 1000 mile intervals for analysis. Statistical analysis of the engine lubricating oil indicated that the wear metal levels in the lubricating oil were normal. A reduction in power was noted when the engines were tested using a chassis dynamometer. The 1991 pickup has been driven 110,451 km and the 1992 pickup has been driven approximately 177,022 km. The pickups averaged 6.9 km/L. Engine fuel efficiency and material compatibility issues are addressed in the paper.

Nine identical 40-ft. transit buses were operated on B20 and diesel for a period of two years - five of the buses operated exclusively on B20 (20% biodiesel blend) and the other four on petroleum diesel. The buses were model year 2000 Orion V equipped with Cummins ISM engines, and all operated on the same bus route. Each bus accumulated about 100,000 miles over the course of the study. B20 buses were compared to the petroleum diesel buses in terms of fuel economy, vehicle maintenance cost, road calls, and emissions. There was no difference between the on-road average fuel economy of the two groups (4.41 mpg) based on the in-use data, however laboratory testing revealed a nearly 2% reduction in fuel economy for the B20 vehicles. Engine and fuel system related maintenance costs were nearly identical for the two groups until the final month of the study.

The phenomenal success of the small car is leading to many engineering changes in the automobile industry. It has brought increased emphasis on weight reduction on both small and full-size cars. Improving reliability and designing to eliminate grease fittings have also become important objectives.

The demand for improved fuel economy in both cars and trucks has emphasized the need for lighter weight components. The application of high strength steel to wheels, both rim and disc, represents a significant opportunity for the automotive industry. This paper discusses the Ranger HSLA wheel program that achieved a 9.7 lbs. per vehicle weight savings relative to a plain carbon steel wheel of the same design. It describes the Ranger wheel specifications, the material selection, the metallurgical considerations of applying HSLA to wheels, and HSLA arc and flash butt welding. The Ranger wheel design and the development of the manufacturing process is discussed, including design modifications to accommodate the lighter gage. The results demonstrate that wheels can be successfully manufactured from low sulfur 60XK HSLA steel in a conventional high volume process (stamped disc and rolled rim) to meet all wheel performance requirements and achieve a significant weight reduction.

This paper describes the Electronic Air Suspension (EAS) System developed by Ford Motor Company. Design trade-offs between load-carrying capacity necessary with conventional steel spring suspension systems and riding comfort are avoided when today's microcomputer technology is combined with a leveling air spring suspension. An electric air compressor with regenerative air dryer, three electronic “Hall Effect” height sensors, four air springs with integral solenoids, and a control module with a single chip microcomputer are the key EAS System components discussed.

A theoretical model is presented for predicting springback of wide sheet metal subjected to 2D-stretch-bending operation. The material is assumed to be normal anisotropic with n-th power hardening law, σ = Fεn. Two types of stretch-bending experiment, bending with simultaneous stretching and stretch-bending followed by consecutive re-stretching, is conducted using AK sheet steel and sheet aluminum alloy A5182-O. The measured values of springback are in good agreement with analytical ones for a wide range of bending radii, stretching forces, and loading conditions. Furthermore, a calculation method for predicting springback configurations of 2D sheet metal parts with arbitrary cross-sections which include both stretch-bending and stretch-bending-unbending deformation is proposed.

This paper describes the engineering, manufacturing and integration necessary to produce the Corvette's first ever all-aluminum spaceframe (see Figure 1). The engineering and manufacturing of the spaceframe was a joint venture between General Motors and suppliers ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) and Dana Corporation. ALCOA led the initial design of the spaceframe; Dana Corp led the manufacturing; General Motors' Engineering and Manufacturing groups led the integration of the assembly. The aluminum spaceframe design is modeled after the baseline steel structure of the Corvette coupe. The aluminum spaceframe reduces 140 lbs from the steel baseline and enters the plant at 285 lbs. This frame allows the 2006 Corvette Z06 to enter the market at a 3100 lbs curb weight. Aluminum casting, extruding, stamping, hydroforming, laser welding, Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding, Self Pierce Riveting (SPR), and full spaceframe machining make up the main technologies used to produce this spaceframe.

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