Analysis on impact of thermal barrier coating on piston head in CI engine using biodiesel

Abstract

The fossil fuel energy sources over the world are depleting day by day. In this situation, there is a necessity to explore for substitute fuels. Low volatility, filter clogging and high viscosity are main drawbacks of vegetable oils. Due to above said problems, poor combustion and poor performance take place. For the enhancement of above properties, thermal barrier coated engine is adopted. In the present work, an effort is made to use Yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) coating applied on a Toroidal geometry piston crown using plasma spray technique. Three thermal barrier coating thicknesses 150, 300 and 450 microns are considered in this study. Experiments are conducted on uncoated piston engine with diesel and coated piston engine fuelled with diesel, Jute methyl ester and Neem methyl ester separately. Increase in thermal efficiency and reduction in emissions were recorded with coated piston engine. Among the fuels used, the best results were obtained by Jute methyl ester with Low Heat Rejection (LHR) engine coated with 300 microns.