Reducing the Development Life Cycle of Automotive Valves and Seat Valves Using a New Workbench for High Temperature Wear Testing

Abstract

The trend in the automotive industry is to reduce the size of engines while increasing power. The concept of leveraging considers not only the efficiency of manufacturing a product but all consumption of energy or other natural resources during the life cycle of the product. In this process, one of the bottlenecks to more efficient engines is the exhaust valve. The valve and valve seat together perform the function of ensuring the entry of air and combustible material, the output of combustion gases and the sealing function during the compression and combustion processes. The valve is the most demanding component in high efficiency engines. To ensure the rigor of operation while providing clean burning and low emissions, the application of special materials is necessary. The extremely high temperatures of the exhaust gases, the velocities of valves and the high operating pressure are only some of the parameters that cause wear on valves. The materials used in valve production must be characterized by good workability, low wear, good mechanical strength and good fatigue and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. In this context, the CCM/ITA and SENAI CIMATEC jointly developed a workbench to simulate the durability of valves and valve seats, analyze their wear resistance and evaluate their behavior with varying parameters. This paper shows the workbench development process and a new testing method that considers the high engine operation temperatures and focuses on reducing the new material development life cycle and the emissions during the product usage life time.