Friction and Wear of Some Ceramics in an Overhead Finger Follower System

A Laboratory bench rig based upon a Ford overhead finger follower system has been designed, constructed and extensively used for metals lubrication studies.

In this work ceramics have been substituted for cast iron and steel follower materials and direct comparisons have been made under conditions where the metals perform rather poorly. All these tests have been carried out with a base oil at 100(o)C for a period of 20 hours.

For silicon carbide and sialon a considerable reduction in friction has been obtained and this [ILLEGIBLE] resulted in considerably less wear of the follower surfaces. Wear of the cam nose is also considerably reduced.

It has been concluded that some ceramics perform very well and in conjunction with their low density, should find wide applications as inserts in the conventionally lubricated internal combustion engine.