Surface analysis of cylinder liners from tribological model experiments and internal combustion engines

Abstract

AbstractHypereutectic aluminium‐silicon (AlSi) alloys have been increasingly used in the fabrication of internal combustion engines in recent years. They combine low weight with good mechanical properties and high wear resistance at the cylinder surface. Owing to the inhomogeneous structure of these alloys, the tribological processes taking place at the surface are highly complex. Therefore, interest in the tribological properties of the surfaces of these alloys has increased. Several tribological experiments with AlSi alloys have been reported in literature, as well as some surface analytical investigations. This work investigates the surfaces of AlSi alloy cylinder liners from an internal combustion engine and from a tribometer experiment. Surface hardness and elastic modulus were investigated with nanoindentation measurements, and the chemical composition of the surface was analyzed with XPS. The most striking difference between the samples from engine and tribometer was a layer of soot and residual lubricant on the Al matrix of the engine cylinder liner, whereas no such layer was found on the tribometer samples. This shows that the combustion process and its resulting products have a significant influence on the formation of tribolayers on the cylinder liner surface. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.