Experimental investigation of the effect of laser texturing on the used IC Engine Piston skirt

Abstract

Piston cylinder kinematic pair is the most critical of all the pairs in an Engine contributing to 70% of the engine friction. The piston cylinder tribo-pair wears unevenly due to varying normal pressure. Major Piston rings fail to expand in to this elliptical gap on the major thrust of the engine. This paper proposes a method of regaining compression in an old engine by laser surface texturing (LST) of the piston skirt major thrust side. The engine with textured piston showed 60% improvement in compression, regaining the engine performance and fuel efficiency. The increased compression showed secondary benefits with reduction in HC and CO emissions. The piston slap noise has reduced by the retained oil film reducing the engine sound by 8 decibels. The engine oil consumption was significantly reduced from 65ml/1000 to 25ml/1000.