Materials for Cylinder Liners

Improvements in the efficiency of Diesel engines, expecially when retaining the original displacement, normally lead to higher mechanical stresses on the individual engine components. Additionally higher ingnition pessures, nowaday reaching a value of around 140 bars, poor fuel quality and the chemical wear associated with it, combine to negatively effect the life expectancy of cylinder liners. Therefore a cylinder liner must have a corresponding resistance against mechanical and chemical wear. Furthermore the liner material should have the necessary strength properties.

Individually these material properties can be obtained easily. A combination of all three material properties in one material is difficult to achieve. So in the past a compromise had to be made when choosing the material quality for a liner, where the solutions of immediate problems were paramount.