Piston ring tribology

Aim: Shed new light on the

tribological issues related to the piston assembly
PRESENTED BY – TARIQUE ANWAR
RAHUL JHAA
SUBHRANIL DAS
RAHUL MONDAL
SANDIP RAJ
RAVI RANJAN
 INTRODUCTION
Piston and its Parts
A piston is a lubricated sliding shaft that fits tightly inside the opening of a cylinder. Its
purpose is to change the volume enclosed by the cylinder, to exert a force on a fluid inside it.

To achieve low mass forces, high resistance against deformation and fatigue failure, and
good sliding properties, the piston materials should fulfil specific requirements, such as:
low density, high strength under temperature variations, high heat conductivity, good wear
characteristics, and favourable heat expansion.
Typical piston materials are light alloys, cast iron, nodular cast iron, and alloyed
[Link] pistons for high-speed engines are primarily made of aluminium silicon alloys.
 What are Piston Rings?
 A piston ring is a split ring that fits into a groove on the outer diameter of a piston in a
reciprocating engine such as an internal combustion engine or steam engine.
 Piston rings for current internal combustion engines have to meet all the requirements of
a dynamic seal for linear motion that operates under demanding thermal and chemical
conditions.
 Dynamic seals retain or separate fluids, keep out contaminants, and contain pressure.
They create a barrier between moving and stationary surfaces in rotary or linear
applications such as rotating shafts and pistons.
 History of Piston Rings
 In the early steam engines no piston rings were used. The temperatures and the steam
pressures were not as high as the corresponding parameters in today’s internal
combustion engines, and the need for considering thermal expansions and clearances
was smaller.
 Increasing power demands required higher temperatures, which caused stronger heat
expansion of the piston material. This made it necessary to use a sealant between the
piston and the cylinder liner to allow a decrease in the clearance in cold conditions, i.e.
when the clearances were at their maximum.
 The development of piston rings started as early as 19th century. Earliest piston rings had
consisted of multiple pieces and with springs to provide an adequate sealing force
against the cylinder bore.
 Ramsbottom and Miller were among the pioneers to investigate the behavior of the
piston rings in steam engines.
 Functions of Piston Rings:
o To seal off the combustion pressure: The ring face conforms to the liner wall and moves
in the groove, sealing off the route down to the crankcase. The sealing ability of the ring
depends on a number of factors, like ring and liner conformability, pre-tension of the ring,
and gas force distribution on the ring faces.
o To distribute and control the oil: The piston rings prevent excess lubrication oil from
moving into the combustion chamber by scraping the oil from the liner wall during the
downstroke.
o To transfer heat: Some of the combustion chamber heat energy is transferred through the
piston to the piston boundaries, i.e. the piston skirt and rings, from which heat transfers to
the liner wall.
 Ring Categories:
Piston rings form a ring pack, which usually consists of 2–5 rings, including at least one
compression ring. The number of rings in the ring pack depends on the engine type, but
usually comprises 2–4 compression rings and 0–3 oil control rings.
Compression rings: The compression ring acts as a gas seal between the piston and the
liner wall, preventing the combustion gases from trailing down to the crankcase There are
various profiles available for the rings to be chosen according to the situation and need.

Rectangular Barrel-shaped Tapered-face Bevelled Wedge type

Oil control rings: Oil control Rings distribute the oil evenly onto the liner. The number of
oil control rings in a ring pack is one or two.
Piston Ring Materials and Coatings
Material properties to be considered for choosing material and coating-
Elasticity
Corrosion resistance
Resistant against damage even in emergency conditions
Good thermal conductivity
Grey cast iron is used as the main material for piston rings. The grey cast iron is beneficial,
as a dry lubrication effect of the graphite phase of the material can occur under conditions of
oil starvation.
Coating of chromium is used in abrasive and corrosive conditions where running conditions
are severe.
Piston ring surfaces are, in addition to chromium plating, thermally (plasma) sprayed with
molybdenum, metal composites, metal-ceramic composites or ceramic composites, as a
uniform coating.
Experimental work is going on for using a number of materials as coating.
 Cylinder Liner
A cylinder liner is a cylindrical part to be fitted into an engine block to form a cylinder. Since
the piston and the piston rings are moving in the cylinder, the cylinder liner constitutes an
important tribological element as a sliding surface against the piston and piston rings.

Liner Materials: The cylinders can be made of cast iron containing phosphorus,
manganese, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium and titanium as alloying elements, or steel
or aluminium
 PISTON RING MECHANICS
PISTON RING KINEMATICS & KINETICS
• i)Primary Piston Motion = Reciprocating piston motion
 The exact speed of the piston can be calculated by
Velocity derivating the equation determining the distance
between the piston and the top dead centre.

Where:
vp = instantaneous piston speed
r = crank radius
ω = angular velocity of the crank
φ = crank angle
λ = conrod ratio, = r/l
l = conrod length

PISTON SPEED VS CRANK ANGLE

Fig. Crank mechanism with piston
location parameters
 The piston acceleration can be found by differentiating
Acceleration the velocity equation.

Where:
ap = piston acceleration
r = crank radius
app == ω22r(cosφ+λcos2φ) ω = angular velocity of the crank
φ = crank angle
λ = conrod ratio

PISTON ACCELERATION VS CRANK ANGLE

• ii> Secondary Piston Motion = Lateral movements and tilt of the piston according to the forces and
moments acting on it. This occurs due to the clearance between the piston and cylinder liner.

Basic modes of piston motion in the bore:

1st case: Piston 2nd Case: No transverse movement, 3rd Case: No transverse movement, top
moves freely in top and bottom of the skirt are and bottom of the skirt are diagonally
the bore vertically in contact with the bore. in contact with the bore.
4th Case : Piston moves freely in the bore – translating and rotating.
PISTON RING FORCES & MOMENTS
 Inertia load acting on the piston
due to the piston acceleration and
deaaceleration.
 Oil film damping load.
 Loads owing to the pressure
difference across the ring.
 Friction loads from the sliding
contact beteen the piston and
cylinder liner.
 The shearing of the lubricating
film, the sliding friction forces and
the contact pressure
between
the ring and the liner cause
normal and tangential forces on
the ring face.
 PISTON RING AND SKIRT
LUBRICATION
WHAT IS LUBRICATION?

• Lubrication is the process or technique employed to reduce friction between, and wear of
one or both, surfaces in proximity and moving relative to each other, by interposing a
substance called a lubricant in between them.
• The lubricant can be a solid(MoS2), liquid dispersion, a liquid such as oil or water, a liquid-
liquid dispersion or a gas.
• Lubrication can also describe the phenomenon where reduction of friction occurs
unintentionally, which can be hazardous such as hydroplaning on a road.
Importance of lubrication in piston ring

It reduces the friction between piston and cylinder inner surface.

It prevent the seizure of piston inside the cylinder.

In addition to the lubricating aspect, the oil acts as a heat carrier

that transports heat from the piston and the ring-liner interface.

The oil is further needed in the ring groove for preventing the ring
from sticking to the groove.
 Types of lubrication used in different
types of engine
2-stroke engines • mist lubrication system

small, high speed • splash lubrication system

engines 4-stroke engines

medium sized 4-stroke • combination of forced and splash lubrication

engines system

large sized 4-stroke • forced lubrication system

engine
 OIL QUALITY
A lubricant consists of base oil and additives. The additives vary depending on the
operational environment for which the oil is designed.

COMMON
ADDITIVES

Anti-wear
Boundary Viscosity index
additives such
friction reducers modifiers
as ZDDP.

Molybdenum dialkylthiocarbamate (MoDTC) is a base oil additives that reduces the

boundary friction in a surface contact.
 Contamination in the oil
LIQUID
SOLID CONTAMINATION
CONTAMINATION
PARTICLES
PARTICLES
ORIGIN:- The origin of the contamination particles may be
ORIGIN:- Liquid contamination of oil can occur in a variety of
soot from combustion, ingested dust in the shape of silica dust
ways- the fuel residues, combustion products, condensed
and similar minerals, and wear particles consisting of ferrous,
water etc.
copper, lead, aluminium, tin and nickel alloys.

EFFECTS:- Liquid contaminations particle effects the viscosity

EFFECTS:- Solid particles causes more wear in the liner
of the oil and due to oxidation effect they causes corrosion of
interface and at least the piston seizure inside the cylinder.
the lubricated surface

SOLUTIONS:- The use of oil filters with an appropriate

SOLUTIONS:- The effect of the acidic contaminants can be
nominal retention rate is an effective tool for suppressing the
diminished by neutralisation. As they effects the viscosity of
solid particle concentration in engine oil. Exhaust gas re-
the oil the only solution is to exchange the engine oil after a
circulation with soot filters. At last exchange of engine oil time
particular time.
to time.
VARIOUS
TYPES OF 1. FULLY FLOODED RING LUBRICATION:-
LUBRICATION The oil film covers the whole ring surface area.
SEEN IN
PISTON RING
The load is carried solely by the oil film. These
SURFACE conditions typically occur during piston mid-
stroke

2. PARTIALLY FLOODED RING

LUBRICATION:- Only a part of the ring is
lubricated with oil. In this area the load is carried
by the oil film, while the rest of the load is
carried by the surface asperities and gas forces.
This occurs when the speed of the engine is low.
FRICTION OF PISTON RINGS AND SKIRT AGAINST
CYLINDER LINER

INTRODUCTION

This section covers the presence of friction b/w piston rings and cylinder liner on one side
and friction b/w piston skirt and cylinder liner on another side.
The issue of friction is highly relevant that can seen by this brake thermal efficiency (ηe)

ηe = ηt . ηr .ηm
ηt(cycle efficiency ) , ηr(relative efficiency ), ηm(mechanical efficiency).
In terms of the cylinder pressure of the engine, the frictional losses
friction pressure (pf ) can be expressed as the difference between the indicated mean
effective pressure (pi ) and the brake mean effective pressure (pe ) of the engine, as follows:
pi - pf = pe
Friction of piston rings against cylinder liner

Ring friction fundamentals

• The sliding contact between a piston ring and a cylinder liner hosts a variety of different
friction mechanisms during one working cycle of the engine.
• The friction in b/w rings and cylinder liner causes wear and somehow changes its
behaviour too which is affected by :-
 Variations in load
 Speed of engine
 Counter surface effects
 Lubrication conditions in ring/liner
 Supply of lubricants
• The availability of oil, in terms of either poorly lubricated or fully flooded conditions, will
determine the precise friction mechanism at the dead centres and the effect of the
elastohydrodynamic lubrication between the dead centres of the piston motion.
 Friction simulation
• Friction simulation means that study of friction by the means of model which describes it
properly. Friction simulation is now a days carried out with the help of various software.
• In friction simulation we generally take care of the following measures for the study:-
 Oil film thickness
 minimising friction losses
 Surface roughness
 Viscosity of the lubricant
 Temperature variations of friction
 Shear thinning
• The simulation model works as a hydrodynamic model until the oil film thickness
decreases to a certain value, after which the mixed lubrication model is included in the
simulation. This critical value of the oil film is determined from the roughness of the
interacting surfaces.
 Measured friction forces and coefficients of friction
• The friction force has been measured either from the ring or from the liner. In some
works, the friction graphs comprise characteristic peaks at the start and stop locations,
while other authors present friction graphs that lack any peaks of significance at the start
and stop locations. This difference may more strongly reflect differences in the response
of the friction force measurement arrangements than in the tribological phenomena
studied.
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
200 400 600

Graph b/w friction of coefficient and rpm as experimented by Dearlove and Cheng

• Dearlove and Cheng have measured the coefficient of friction of a chromium plated
piston ring with the normal load of 40 to 80 N and at the mid of the down stroke .(as
shown above).
• Friction graphs from tests with pieces of piston rings sliding in an oscillating mode
against samples of cylinder liners that comprise clearly higher coefficients of friction
in the vicinity of the TDC and BDC locations, or U-shaped (mostly U∩ shaped)
friction graphs (Graph 1.2), have been presented by Akalin and Newaz, Andersson,
Glidewell and Korcek, Dearlove and Cheng, and Durga and co-workers.

Example of a U∩-shaped friction graph. The curve corresponds to 360 degrees of

crankshaft rotation, for 10 Hz oscillating frequency of the piston ring
 Effect of piston ring surface finishing and
• coating
As for any tribological surface, the surface finish is of great importance for the
lubrication conditions and the frictional behaviour. Piston rings are coated for :-
 Suppressing wear
 Reducing friction
• Examples of traditional beneficial piston ring coating are Hard chromium coatings
with oil-retaining porosity or channels on piston rings.
• Materials which are generally coated over the piston rings are chromia (Cr2O3) which
must be lubricated with polyalphaolefine oil.

Effect of cylinder liner surface finishing and coating

• Effect of different surface roughness values of a cast iron cylinder liner on the
coefficient of friction, and report mid-stroke values in the order of μ = 0.12 with an Ra
value of 0.3 μm and μ = 0.08 with an Ra value of 0.07 μm with a 5W30 oil and engine
speeds of 100 and 450 rpm.
( where Ra is arithmetic roughness average )
 A PLATEAU-HONED CYLINDER LINER SURFACE PROFILE, which
consists of a fairly flat base surface with a network of deep scars, has been
found appropriate for the lubrication of the piston assembly.
Friction of piston skirt and piston rings
against the cylinder liner
The friction between the piston skirt and the cylinder liner is controlled by the diameter
clearance, the piston design and the tilting action of the piston, the piston skirt design,
the surface roughness and the preconditions for lubrication.
 Scuffing
• The scuffing phenomenon described as the transfer of cylinder liner particles to piston ring
surfaces due to inadequate lubrication and high temperature at top dead centre could
significantly decrease engine performance.
• On the piston ring and cylinder liner surfaces evidence of scuffing may be found in the shape
of wear scars indicating:-
 plastic deformation,
 abrasive ploughing and
 the adhesive transfer of work hardened cast iron to a chromium-plated piston ring
 "white layer" that indicates that the temperature has locally exceeded 750°C.

piston that has suffered

scuffing (Left one)

• Protection against scuffing is achieved by engine oil additives, which promote the formation
 Piston seizure
• The heat caused by detonation made the piston so hot, the rings stuck and the piston
seized in the cylinder. You can see the seizure marks on the side of the piston. This
damage usually ruins both the cylinder and piston. Detonation can be caused by a
number of things.
• The seizure comprises jamming of the piston in the cylinder bore owing to strong
adhesion between the mating materials. Particularly in the case of new engines,
piston seizure can be the result of insufficient piston/liner clearance.

Piston sized in cylinder

 Wear in the piston-ring-liner
system
Wear of piston rings

Two-body Three-body
abrasive wear abrasive wear

In addition to the two-body and three-body abrasive wear, the overall wear rate can be
tribochemically accelerated by aggressive components in the lubricant that have been
entrapped in the ring zone. Aggressive combustion products are formed in particular
when highly sulphuric fuels are used.
 Running-in wear of piston rings

The most intensive wear of the piston ring pack and the cylinder liner normally occurs
in the running-in, or break-in, stage of the engine, during which the most predominant
surface profile peaks are worn off by the counter surface, and the surfaces eventually
obtain improved [Link] abrasive wear of the piston rings decreases when the
cylinder liner surface irregularities become smaller, and the wear of the cylinder liner
decreases when the piston rings become smoother by running in.

Steady-state wear of piston rings

In steady-state conditions, subsequently to the running-in stage of the piston

rings and cylinder liner, the wear rates of the respective counter bodies is a
fraction of the level experienced during the running-in.
 Wear of ring flank surfaces

Owing to the relative motion between the ring flank surfaces and the grooves in the
pistons, and the dynamic axial loads on the rings, wear occurs in the ring/groove
contact. The ring flank wear can be reduced by the use of coatings on the ring flank
surfaces.

Wear of oil rings

The oil rings work under an oil film thickness that is thinner than that of the
compression rings on average, owing to the high spring forces that continuously act
on the oil ring, and for this reason the wear of the oil rings cannot be neglected.
Some secondary wear is known to occur as the result of interactions between the
different parts of compound oil rings.
 Wear in the piston ring groove
Wear of the parallel surfaces in piston ring grooves, commonly called ring-groove wear,
occurs mainly in the top ring groove. The main reason for the wear is the combined
effect of gas forces and radial motion of the ring, and the wear process is accelerated by
poor lubrication and a high temperature. The reasons for the radial motion of the ring
are the cylinder distortion, the secondary movement of the piston and piston tilt
allowed
by the piston/cylinder clearance.
 Wear of the piston skirt
Mild wear of the piston skirt

As part of the running-in of the piston assembly, mild wear of the thrust and anti-
thrust
sides of the piston skirt are a normal consequence. In continuous operating
conditions,
the wear of the piston skirt is normally insignificant, as the hydrodynamic lubrication
conditions are disturbed only by the reversal of the motion at the TDC and BDC
locations. Wear of the piston skirt normally remains low, despite the hardness
reduction
of the piston material at the operating temperature.
 Abrasive wear of the piston skirt

When abrasive particles (soot, dust or metallic wear particles) enter the sliding
interface
between the piston skirt and the cylinder liner, severe abrasive wear scars may form
on
the piston skirt surface. The wear is normally accompanied by similar abrasive wear
on
the cylinder liner surface. Piston skirt wear is in certain cases suppressed by a harder
coating on the skirt.
 Wear of the cylinder liner
Wear of the cylinder liner is caused to a great extent by the action of the piston rings.
Practical observations and theoretical analyses correlate well in terms of the
strongest
wear of the cylinder liners taking place in the vicinity of the top reversal point of the
top
piston ring, where the thermal, chemical, erosive and abrasive conditions are the
severest. CYLINDER BORE
POLISHING

LIGHT MEDIUM HEAVY

A light degree of bore polishing increases the oil consumption. When the bore polishing
has evolved to a stage of heavy polishing, and most of the oil-retaining honing pattern
has been erased, the risk of lubrication starvation and scuffing is obvious.
 Surface technology
Coating deposition and surface treatment

Functional coatings and surface treatments offer several possibilities to improve the
sliding properties of metal surfaces. In internal combustion engines, coatings and
surface treatments are commonly applied on one or several components of the piston,
piston ring and cylinder liner system.
The range of coatings and surface treatments currently used in engine components in the
reciprocating system covers a variety of different coating compositions and deposition
techniques. Surface coating and treatment techniques are continuously developing and
new groups of coatings are introduced on the market, and even more methods are being
developed and experimentally evaluated.
Coating Application Techniques:
1)Thermal Spraying
2)Galvanic Coating

Surface Treatment Method:

1)Surface Nitriding

Ferro-oxidising
Surface
Graphite coatings
Treatment
Ion exchange reactions
Techniques
: Phosphate coatings
Anodising
Ion implantation
Vacuum methods
 Surface roughness
Deviations from absolute mathematical geometry can be expressed as form deviations,
surface waviness and surface roughness. The different aspects refer to the magnitude of
the wavelength of the deviations from absolute form, with form errors representing the
longest wavelength and surface roughness the shortest wavelengths of the deviation.
Each of the above parameters has an influence on the tribological performance of the
piston/cylinder couple. Form errors, surface waviness and surface roughness of pistons
and cylinder liners can be metrologically determined from roundness and surface
roughness measurements. For piston rings, which are elastic, the primary need is to
determine the surface roughness. The surface roughness of piston rings, piston skirts and
cylinder liners has been taken into particular consideration in the development of
surface roughness measurement techniques and the presentation of measurement
results as surface roughness parameters.
 Surface roughness parameters
For distinguishing between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional surface roughness
parameters, the former ones are denominated Rsubscript and the latter ones Ssubscript.

Ra or Sa • arithmetic average surface roughness

Rsk or Ssk • profile skewness

Rpk or Spk • reduced peak height, or the surface profile peaks that are erased by running-in.

• core roughness depth, or the long-term running surface that determines the life
Rk or Sk time of the component.

• reduced trough depth, or the oil retaining capability of the groove pattern of a
Rvk or Svk honed surface or similar.

MR1 (or Sr1) and MR2 (or • the material components (in %)
Sr2)
• the plateauness of the cylinder liner texture; a plateau surface has a Rvk/Rk ratio
Rvk/Rk of about three.
Graphical representation of the surface texture height parameters for a 2-dimensional
measurement.

Topography and texture

The magnitude of the surface roughness, which can be expressed by means of surface
roughness parameters, can also be expressed as the texture, and which indicates how the
surface irregularities are repeated on the surface
 Texture
It is of fundamental importance to the tribological performance of, for instance, a piston
ring and cylinder liner contact. The mechanically textured cylinder liner pattern, the so-
called plateau-honed cylinder, is a good example of improved tribological behaviour by
surface texturing.

Textured surfaces
Post-processing of coated (or uncoated) piston ring surfaces has recently been developed
by the introduction of the laser texturing technique, which allows the production of any
pattern of cavities onto a piston ring or other sliding surface.
THE END