An experimental study on tribological properties and air tightness of co-textured cylinder liner-piston ring on an engine tester

Abstract

Abstract The performance of cylinder liner-piston ring (CLPR) affects the efficiency of marine engine greatly. An experimental study on textured CLPR was conducted to seek insight into the operation reliability of CLPR. Three types of surface texture, groove texture on cylinder liner, dimple texture on piston ring, and co-texture on both sides, were processed. A series of tests were then carried out on an engine tester. Three characterization parameters, contact resistance, worn surface topography on cylinder liner, and cylinder pressure were used to describe the CLPR tribological properties and air tightness. The results showed that the three textures all improved tribological properties. Compared to the non-textured surface, the contact resistance of the three textures increased 30.7%, 71.7% and 98.4% on average. The wear resistance of dimple texture was weaker than that of groove texture. Air tightness was closely related to oil film pressure. At dead centre, the cylinder pressure of the three textures respectively was optimized by 4.6 kPa, 7.8 kPa and 12.3 kPa averagely. The co-texture was shown to combine the advantages of groove texture with the advantages of dimple texture, which provided the surface with improved oil film distribution and more efficient debris trapping, resulting in the optimum tribological properties and air tightness among the three textures.