Abstract
The application of plasma sprayed coating allows a strong reduction of the coefficient of friction between piston ring and cylinder wall. In comparison with the conventional grey cast iron the reduction can reach a value of thirty percents.
For a light car this can represent a fuel consumption reduction of three to four percents. All the tribological system cylinder and piston should be considered in the analyze. The surface finishing of the cylinder plays an important roll. The solution plasma sprayed coating is already introduced in series in different types of engine in Europe and in Japan. A significantly reduction of the oil consumption can be achieved in the same time. Future developments will contribute to increase the technical performances of this new category of coating for cylinder bore.
Examples of using in high performance gasoline and diesel engine will be discussed. The coating on cylinder bores of aluminum engine blocks represents a technical and economical advantage solution.