Insulated Piston Heads for Diesel Engines

Widely studied in the 1980s, the insulation of pistons in engines aimed at reducing the heat losses and thus increasing the indicated efficiency. However, those studies stopped in the beginning of the 1990s because of NO x emission legislation and also because of lower oil prices. Currently, with the improvement of exhaust after treatment systems (diesel particulate filter, selective catalytic reduction, and diesel oxidation catalyst) and engine technologies (exhaust gas recirculation), there are more trade-offs for NO x reduction. In addition, the fast rise of the oil prices tends to lead back to insulation technologies in order to save fuel. A 1 mm thick plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating with a graded transition between the topcoat and the bondcoat was deposited on top of a serial piston for heavy-duty truck engines. The effects of the insulated pistons on the engine performance are also discussed, and the coating microstructure is analyzed after engine test.