An experimental study on tribological properties and air tightness of co-textured cylinder liner-piston ring on an engine tester

Abstract

The performance of cylinder liner-piston ring (CLPR) affects the efficiency of marine engine greatly. An experimental study on textured CLPR was conducted to seek insight into the operation reliability of CLPR. Three types of surface texture, groove texture on cylinder liner, dimple texture on piston ring, and co-texture on both sides, were processed. A series of tests were then carried out on an engine tester. Three characterization parameters, contact resistance, worn surface topography on cylinder liner, and cylinder pressure were used to describe the CLPR tribological properties and air tightness. The results showed that the three textures all improved tribological properties. Compared to the non-textured surface, the contact resistance of the three textures increased 30.7%, 71.7% and 98.4% on average. The wear resistance of dimple texture was weaker than that of groove texture. Air tightness was closely related to oil film pressure. At dead centre, the cylinder pressure of the three textures respectively was optimized by 4.6 kPa, 7.8 kPa and 12.3 kPa averagely. The co-texture was shown to combine the advantages of groove texture with the advantages of dimple texture, which provided the surface with improved oil film distribution and more efficient debris trapping, resulting in the optimum tribological properties and air tightness among the three textures.

Deterministic Simulation of Surface Textures for the Piston Ring/Cylinder Liner System in a Free Piston Linear Engine

“…The majority of frictional power losses in internal combustion engines are situated within the hydrodynamic lubrication regime in the mid-stroke, where the piston reaches its maximum velocity, leading to increased shear forces in the lubricating oil and, thus, higher viscous losses [28]. The surface finish of piston cylinder liners significantly influences the friction coefficient, the load-carrying capacity between the tribological pair of cylinder liners and piston rings, and the durability of the sealing rings [29,30]. Plateau honing is a surface finishing process in cylinder liners that removes the highest peaks of the liner surface, resulting in a reduced surface roughness, imparting a surface texture characterized by deep valleys that serve as lubricant reservoirs [31,32].…”

Effect of textured parameters on tribological properties of hydrodynamic journal bearing

“…Surface texture could effectively reduce friction (Wang et al , 2023), and a reasonable texture density could reduce the friction by up to 13% compared with nontextured (Das and Kakoty, 2023). The tribological performance of the lower pair had been significantly improved by preparing the surface texture on its face (Miao et al , 2021; Nayab and Kakoty, 2021). Therefore, the sample with reasonable texture parameter design can effectively reduce friction and wear.…”

Surface Texturing of Cylinder Liners: A Review

“…Miao et al [ 27 ] found that dimples on the piston ring surface are better-accumulated lubricant than grooves on the cylinder liner. The dimpled texture of the piston rings led to a better increase in contact resistance than the grooved texture of the cylinder liners [ 28 ]. Rao et al [ 29 ] studied the tribological effect of the grooved cylinder liner accompanied by the dimpled piston ring radial surface and found that the first option reduced exhaust gas (Nox) emissions.…”