Overview of thermal barrier coatings in diesel engines

An understanding of delamination mechanisms in thermal barrier coatings has been developed for diesel applications through nondestructive evaluation, structural analysis modeling and engine evaluation of various thermal barrier coatings. This knowledge has resulted in improved thermal barrier coatings which survive abusive cyclic fatigue tests in high output diesel engines. Significant efforts are still required to improve the plasma spray processing capability and the economics for complex geometry diesel engine components. Data obtained from advanced diesel engines on the effect of thermal barrier coatings on engine fuel economy and emission has not been encouraging. Although the underlying metal component temperatures have been reduced through the use of thermal barrier coating, engine efficiency and emission trends have not been promising

Thick thermal barrier coatings for diesel components

An engineered thick thermal barrier coating consisting of multiple layers of zirconia and CoCrAlY with a zirconia top layer and having a system thermal conductance less than 410 w/m(exp 2)K exceeded the 100 hour engine durability goals set forth in this program. The thermal barrier coatings were intact at the test conclusion. Back to back single cylinder research engine tests were conducted with watercooled, metal hardware and oil-cooled, thermal barrier coating insulated hardware to determine apparent heat release and fuel economy. Apparent heat release data revealed that the insulated engine had a shorter ignition delay and a longer combustion duration than the metal engine. The insulated engine fuel economy was approximately two percent worse on average for this series of tests. There was no attempt to optimize engine efficiency of the insulated engine by modifying the engine timing, coating, or other techniques

Solid lubrication design methodology

A single element traction rig was used to measure the traction forces at the contact of a ball against a flat disc at room temperature under combined rolling and sliding. The load and speed conditions were selected to match those anticipated for bearing applications in adiabatic diesel engines. The test program showed that the magnitude of traction forces were almost the same for all the lubricants tested; a lubricant should, therefore, be selected on the basis of its ability to prevent wear of the contact surfaces. Traction vs. slide/roll ratio curves were similar to those for liquid lubricants but the traction forces were an order of magnitude higher. The test data was used to derive equations to predict traction force as a function of contact stress and rolling speed. Qualitative design guidelines for solid lubricated concentrated contacts are proposed

Vitreous bond CBN high speed and high material removal rate grinding of ceramics

High speed (up to 127 m/s) and high material removal rate (up to 10 mm{sup 3}/s/mm) grinding experiments using a vitreous bond CBN wheel were conducted to investigate the effects of material removal rate, wheel speed, dwell time and truing speed ratio on cylindrical grinding of silicon nitride and zirconia. Experimental results show that the high grinding wheel surface speed can reduce the effective chip thickness, lower grinding forces, enable high material removal rate grinding and achieve a higher G-ratio. The radial feed rate was increased to as high as 0.34 {micro}m/s for zirconia and 0.25 {micro}m/s for silicon nitride grinding to explore the advantage of using high wheel speed for cost-effective high material removal rate grinding of ceramics

Direct-energy-regenerated particulate trap technology. Final report

The objective of this CRADA between Lockheed Martin and Cummins Engine Company was to develop fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC) composite materials for use as diesel engine particulate traps. Chemical vapor deposition techniques were used to partially densify and rigidize a thin fibrous substrate and produce the porous SiC- based filter. Microwave energy was used to directly couple to the deposited SiC to uniformly heat the filter and oxidize the collected carbon particulates. For commercial usage particulate traps must: (1) filter carbon particulates from a high temperature diesel exhaust at an acceptably low backpressure, (2) survive thousands of thermal transients due to regeneration or cleaning of the filter by oxidizing the collected carbon, (3) be durable and reliable over the expected life of the filter (300,000 miles or 10,000 hours), and (4) provide a low overall operating cost which is competitive with other filtering techniques. The development efforts performed as part of this CRADA have resulted in a very promising new technology for Cummins Engine Company. Ceramic fiber based filter papers were developed at Fleetguard, Inc., (a Cummins Subsidiary) and used to produce the spiral wound, corrugated filter cartridges. Optimized SiC coatings were developed at Lockheed Martin which couple with 2.45 GHz microwaves. Prototype particulate filter cartridges fabricated at Fleetguard and rigidized at Lockheed Martin performed well in single cylinder engine tests at Cummins. These prototype filters obtained filtering efficiencies greater than 80% at acceptably low backpressures and could be successfully headed and regenerated using a conventional in-home microwave oven