Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation equipment for cylinder sleeves
Superficially modify the surface of cylinder sleeves made from cast aluminium for better wear resistance.
Thick coating, dense, extremely hard and high wear resistance.
The development of lighter engine blocks in the automotive sector implies a significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 to the environment. The use of these lightweight materials, such as aluminium, in the engine block necessitates the development of new advanced surface treatments that ensure the durability of the component.
The objective in this case was to reduce wear on the component and improve the tribological behaviour of other alternatives based on HVOF technology.
To achieve this, various plasma electrolytic oxidation processes were developed on to flat specimens in order to optimise the process conditions and determine the thickness, hardness, micro-structure and wear resistance of the coating.
Having selected the process, the real demonstrator was coated and evaluated under realistic working conditions using an engine sleeve/segment tribological configuration.
Lastly, the coating significantly reduces the wear of the aluminium sleeve and is an improvement on the benefits provided by the HVOF alternative.
A real demonstrator was developed for final validation on the test bench.