Tribological characteristics of one-process and two-process cylinder liner honed surfaces under reciprocating sliding conditions

This paper reports an experimental study of the effect of surface texture on cylinder liner wear. This research is important because the conjunction between piston rings and cylinder liner is one of the major sources to frictional losses in internal combustion engines. Experiments were conducted on a reciprocating tester. Specimens were cut from cylinder liners honed or plateau honed made of grey cast iron of hardness 218 HB. The honing operation was performed in order to obtain very similar values of the Sq parameter of one-process and two-process surfaces. In addition, one-process specimens characterised by different Sq parameter values were tested. Counter-specimens were made from chromium-coated steel C45. It was found that wear of two-process surfaces was lower than that of one-process surfaces characterized by the same Sq parameter. Linear wear of specimens was proportional to initial Sq parameter value. The effect of additional oil pockets created by the burnishing technique on cylinder liner wear was negligible. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.