Federal-Mogul claims 20% friction reduction for new piston ring coating
16 August 2011
Federal-Mogul has developed a new piston ring coating dubbed 'CarboGlide' that delivers a direct improvement in fuel economy and CO2 emissions by reducing ring friction by up to 20 percent compared with nitride or other commonly used coatings. CarboGlide’s high wear resistance will withstand an engine’s full operational life, even in the latest generation of high-output gasoline engines with turbocharging or direct injection.
“CarboGlide provides engine manufacturers and vehicle owners with a strong advantage over other coated rings in the market by delivering an extremely low friction coefficient, superior wear resistance and long life,” says Rainer Jueckstock, senior vice president, Federal-Mogul Powertrain Energy. “Our CarboGlide-coated rings provide engine manufacturers with an immediate, cost-effective fuel economy improvement that is easy to implement. The friction-reducing, fuel-economy improvement benefits contribute also to reduce the carbon footprint of gasoline-powered vehicles,” Mr Jueckstock adds.
CarboGlide’s comprises a multi-layer microstructure and a special coating composition that contains carbon, deposited in diamond-like form, as well as hydrogen and tungsten. The structure can be produced for a coating thickness of 10 microns, more than three times that of the industry’s latest state-of-the-art DLC coating. An advanced process based on the combination of physical vapour deposition and plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition is used to apply CarboGlide. The coating’s multi-layer architecture, in combination with Federal-Mogul’s surface machining and finishing techniques, ensure the integrity of the coating structure, optimal adhesion of the coating and high coating stability on both steel and cast iron rings.
“Federal-Mogul tests on engines, using both cast iron and high-silicon aluminum cylinder surfaces, have shown that CarboGlide-coated rings minimise friction and scuffing for the full expected life of the engine, even in the challenging environment typical of GDI turbo engines,” says Marcus Kennedy, Federal-Mogul’s manager, Physical Coatings. “It is highly stable due to its non-metallic nature. The unique combination of low friction, low wear and scuffing resistance also makes the technology attractive for application to other Federal-Mogul products developed for extreme conditions like face seals on construction machinery,” Dr Kennedy adds.
Federal-Mogul will be showing its CarboGlide-coated rings at the 64th International Auto Show in Frankfurt next month.
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