Tribological Behavior of Advanced Material Pairs of Piston-ring/Cylinder-liner

A new reciprocating tribo-tester was constructed for simulation of piston-ring/cylinder-liner contacts. Wear behavior and wear mechanisms were investigated for 25 advanced material ring/liner pairs as well as the existing Mo-coated-cast-iron-ring/cast-iron-liner pair (MCI/CI). Results of wear data and wear mechanisms provide a base for selecting and understanding the wear behavior of these materials. The nitrided-stainless-steel-ring/Al₂O₃-reinforced-6061-Al-liner pair gave the highest wear resistance among the tested material pairs and had a wear resistance 10 times of the MCI/CI pair. Scuffing resistance of 19 material pairs were also examined. The MCI/CI pair nearly had the lowest scuffing resistance among the tested pairs. The scuffing resistance and scuffing temperature depends strongly on material combination.