Application of Supersonic Flame Spraying for Next Generation Cylinder Liner Coatings

Rising demands for ecologically friendly automotive engines require a significant decrease in fuel consumption and emissions. Also the recent trend of downsizing engines demands for high performance materials for internal combustion engine applications. Tribologically functional coatings applied by supersonic flame spraying help in boosting the engine efficiency by reducing the internal friction and improving the durability and wear resistance of the cylinder running surface much-needed for engine downsizing tasks together with a high corrosion resistance enabling the use of bio fuels. In addition, the tailored surface topography of the thermal spray coatings help in supporting advantageous friction states and thereby show the benefit of reducing the oil consumption resulting in reduced emissions. The thermally sprayed coatings were applied using HVOF and HVSFS processes together with a specially designed spray gun trajectory in order to achieve a fast and cost efficient coating procedure. Several different coating materials, including novel nanostructured powders, have been investigated and compared to state-of-the-art cylinder liners. The performance of the coated cylinder liners regarding wear and corrosion resistance, friction coefficient and effects of the surface topography have been investigated in various test setups including engine tests.