Abstract
Keywords: Electroless Nickel, Microhardness, Roughness, Wear, Thermal stress.
Cylinder components contribute to around 30% of total friction in an engine. The most important requirements for the satisfactory service life of the cylinder component in an engine are higher life, higher temperature resistance and higher mechanical properties. Most of the parts inside the cylinder should undergo surface treatment. The choice of the process depends on the functional efficiency and cost. Generally cast iron is used for cylinder components which exhibit outstanding wear characteristics, high strength properties even at high temperatures, but the disadvantages are high weight and excess fuel consumption. Aluminium alloys replace them as they are light weight but the wear resistance against the piston and piston ring is poor. Hence there is a need to investigate methods to improve the performance of Aluminium alloys to enable the practical applications. One such method is Electroless Nickel (EN) coating on Aluminium. EN coated Aluminium was investigated for its tribological properties through experimental methods and strength through Finite Element Analysis. The investigation shows that EN coated Aluminium has superior tribological properties when compared with Cast Iron and it has adequate strength. It is concluded that EN coated Aluminium has a high potential to be used as cylinder liners.