Fuel Economy in Focus: Advances in Development of Energy-Efficient Lubricants and Low-Friction Coatings for Automotive Applications
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102 Lube 22/3/11 17:04 Page 23 Lube-Tech No.75 page 1 PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE Fuel economy in focus: advances in development of energy-efficient lubricants and low-friction coatings for automotive applications Boris Zhmud, Ph.D., Assoc.Prof. Chief Technology Manager Applied Nano Surfaces AB, Uppsala, Sweden Meeting the challenge • On the coating side - by improving the cylinder just before ignition. This New fuel economy standards for tribological behavior of existing allows for higher compression ratios automobiles erected by governments in materials by means of surface without knocking, and leaner air/fuel the G20 major economies and change coatings; mixtures than in conventional Otto-cycle in customer preferences driven by high • On the lubricant side - by developing internal combustion engines. By fuel prices put increased pressure on lubricants to obtain desired regulating injection pressure and valve car makers. Thus, the U.S. tribological behavior for a given timing and lift, constant electronically- Environmental Protection Agency is material. aided engine efficiency tuning is possible preparing to look at standards for 2017 Development costs, material costs and based on the actual load, fuel type, and beyond - setting at the top of its production costs are always important exhaust parameters, and ambient potential range a standard of 62 mpg factors when market potential of one or conditions. by 2025. In one or another way, those another approach is to be assessed. political and economical incentives An alternative to FSI is homogeneous intensify research and development Smarter engines, lighter cars charge compression ignition (HCCI) efforts taken by major OEMs in order to Engineering advancements in car technology which can be viewed as a achieve new ambitious fuel economy construction over the past decades did hybrid of homogeneous charge spark targets. Apart from engineering efforts not come unnoticed: the average fuel ignition (in gasoline engines) and on use of alternative energy sources to consumption, normalised to engine stratified charge compression ignition reduce green house gas emissions, use output, dropped from 10L / 100 km in (in diesel engines). In theory, HCCI of new materials to reduce vehicle the 1980s to 5L / 100 km nowadays. allows one to achieve gasoline engine- weight, development of hybrid cars, Most noticeable developments are broad like emissions along with diesel engine- and continuing powertrain optimi- acceptance of fuel stratified injection like efficiency. Analogously to diesel sation, a big emphasis is made on (FSI) direct injection technology. Though engines, in an HCCI engine, the air/fuel understanding tribological aspects of FSI technology has been around for at mixture is ignited due to compression energy losses in powertrain and least half a century, its advantages could without using an electric discharge. utilising current advancements in not be fully realized until electronic Stratified charge compression ignition lubrication engineering and coatings to engine control modules become in diesel engines also relies on fight those losses. Indeed, friction and available. FSI technology increases the temperature and density increase wear are inherent in operation of any torque and power of spark-ignition resulting from compression, but machines and mechanisms. The engines, makes them as much as 15 combustion occurs at the boundary of majority of machines and mechanisms percent more economical at a given fuel-air mixing, caused by an injection can be viewed as complex tribosystems power output. The motor industry in event, to initiate combustion. containing mechanical parts and Europe and North America has now Inherently, HCCI engines are more lubricant. Correspondingly, friction and switched completely to direct fuelling for difficult to control than other modern wear can conceptually be controlled in the new petrol engines it is introducing. combustion engines, and to date, there three different ways: The majority of modern FSI engines are have only been a few prototype actually turbo-FSI (TFSI or TSI) as they engines running in the HCCI mode. • On the material side - by choosing combine direct injection with Recently, a vehicle powered by 25 cc lighter and durable materials with twincharging - a turbocharger and a 1.3 hp HCCI engine deploying WS2 appropriate mechanical and supercharger working together. antifriction coating was constructed by tribological properties in manufac- Royal Institute of Technology KTH, turing of mechanical parts; In a FSI engine, the fuel is injected into Stockholm, Sweden (Figure 1) LUBE MAGAZINE No .102 APRIL 2011 23 102 Lube 22/3/11 17:04 Page 24 Lube-Tech No.75 page 2 PUBLISHED BY LUBE: THE EUROPEAN LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE construction made of carbon fiber or coatings are discussed in automotive carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). engineering perspective, one often tends Thus, Lamborghini has recently unveiled to focus exclusively on hard antiwear its Sesto Elemento concept supercar at coatings such as diamond-like carbon the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The name (DLC), boron nitride (BN), silicon carbide “Sesto Elemento” originates from the (SiC), titanium nitride (TiN), tungsten atomic number of carbon in the periodic carbide (WC), etc. This is probably table, reflecting the fact that a great deal explained by the fact that, from the car of the vehicle is constructed from CFRP. owner perspective at least, an engine which wears prematurely is a much Figure 1 Is that what the car of the future will look Another noteworthy advancement on worse choice than a robust engine which like? Agelis ecocar built at Royal Institute of the material side is the use of light- has marginally higher fuel consumption. Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, managed to run for 481 km at 1 L of gasoline during Shell Eco weight porous metals and composites as Marathon 2010. Critical engine components had impact energy absorbers and sound- antifriction coatings made by Applied Nano Surfaces damping elements. and a fuel-economy engine oil produced by Elektrion s.a. was used. Antifriction coatings Apart from engine development, In an internal combustion engine, ca improving efficiency of power 15% of energy is lost due to friction [1- transmission is another way towards 2]. This 15% can be further subdivided, better fuel economy: continuously in a proportion 9:1, into a dissipative part variable transmissions and automatic (viscous dissipation due to lubricant flow) gearboxes with 6 to 8 speeds are getting and a frictional part (mostly due to increasingly common. boundary friction in piston ring/cylinder bore, cranktrain and valvetrain systems). As the use of new materials is The dissipative losses can be reduced by concerned, the main focus is on reducing using lower-viscosity oils and smaller the car weight while keeping manufac- displacement volumes. The frictional part turing costs down. On this frontier, quite can be reduced by using antifriction drastic changes can be observed over coatings on performance-critical parts as past two decades. Aluminium engine well as by deploying special friction- blocks have become a standard in reducing additives in engine oil. passenger cars and other small vehicles. Unfortunately, use of additives in oil may The move to aluminium was primarily cause exhaust catalyst poisoning and so motivated by curb weight reduction. must be constrained. Thus, the Some luxury cars, e.g. Audi A8 and R8, phosphorus content in ILSAC GF5 engine The development of the hard coatings Jaguar XJ, BMW 7, have significant part oils must not exceed 800 ppm. This started in the 1960s with the chemical of their body made of aluminium in makes coatings an attractive alternative, (CVD) and physical (PVD) vapor order to further reduce the weight and minimising the dependence of additives. deposition techniques. There are many improve performance of the vehicles. If PVD variants in use today (magnetron the price does not matter, even more Nowadays, various coatings are used in sputtering, evaporation by laser, wire arc, weight loss can be achieved: super sport automotive engineering to compensate electron beam, etc.). Hard coatings have cars such as Koenigsegg, Bugatti and deficiencies of bulk materials. Coatings many unique properties, such as Lamborghini have certain parts of body can be used to improve wear resistance, chemical inertness and extreme corrosion resistance, appearance, resistance against abrasion, making them adhesive properties, etc. For instance, invaluable in the tooling industry. Nikasil, Alusil or wire-arc sprayed iron Notwithstanding their impressive coatings are used for reinforcement of antiwear performance, hard coatings cylinder bore walls and improved oil film help little to improve fuel economy: the retention in aluminium engines. Other fact that DLC coatings afford a reduction classical methods used for enhancing the of the coefficient of friction from 0.3 to Figure 2 Engineering marvel or an exercise in tribological properties of various 0.15 in a dry steel-vs-steel contact does extreme weight loss? Lamborghini Sesto Elemento automotive components are chrome not mean one is going to enjoy a 50% super sport car has a body constructed of CFRP, plating, ferritic nitrocarburation and friction reduction in an engine where all resulting in a curb weight of just 999 kg for the vehicle powered by 562 hp V10 engine and phosphatation. moving parts are lubricated and the permanent all-wheel drive (Photo