Engine components have been designed to withstand the properties of the diesel and petrol engines. The use of unconventional fuels and lubricants, made necessary to adapt the characteristics of the materials/coatings of the main components. Valves and Piston rings are the most critical components of engines, and the development of new coatings is necessary both to cover the challenges of the new generation of engines and to substitute unfriendly coating process that involves CrVI. For small engines, light weight valves will be also an issue, in order to reduce the weight of the engine, and the emissions. Similar technologies will be applied to both components in order to strength the results of the project and make wider the exploitation of project results. The use of CrVI in a lot of critical components of engines as piston rings and valves, made necessary the cooperation at European level in order to find good replacement. In this project, the industrial applicability of this coating will be explored, studying alternatively other new coating solutions based on the knowledge of the participants, taking also into account the properties of innovative PVD solutions based on low friction coatings. These coatings developed during the project will be compared also with other type of possible coatings present on the market (like HVOF or plasma coatings) and through the comparison with the results of the EUREKA Equimotor Project.
The main objective is to find the best engine component coatings for valve-train system and piston ring/cylinder liners that may reduce corrosion, tribocorrosion, friction, wear and weight with engines working with alternative fuels and lubricants.
