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Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon Coatings for Friction Reduction of the Valve Train in Internal Combustion Engines
Author(s) -
Götze Andreas,
Makowski Stefan,
Kunze Tim,
Hübner Matthias,
Zellbeck Hans,
Weihnacht Volker,
Leson Andreas,
Beyer Eckhard,
Joswig JanOle,
Seifert Gotthard,
Abrasonis Gintautas,
Posselt Matthias,
Fassbender Jürgen,
Möller Wolfhard,
Gemming Sibylle,
Krause Matthias
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201400188
Subject(s) - camshaft , tribology , materials science , combustion , test bench , automotive engineering , internal combustion engine , amorphous solid , carbon fibers , automotive engine , torque , amorphous carbon , metallurgy , mechanical engineering , composite material , engineering , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , composite number
Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta‐C) is studied as a tribological coating for the valve train's exhaust camshaft of a combustion engine. The coated camshafts were installed in a non‐fired engine, tested in a computerized component test bench under practice‐relevant conditions and analyzed for their frictional behavior. A notable reduction of the valve train's drive torque on the test bench is demonstrated. Namely, on a roller cam system with ta‐C‐coated camshaft the reduction is about 15% in average within the entire engine‐map. The ta‐C coatings were extensively characterized under laboratory conditions before and after the investigations on the test bench. Mechanistic understanding of the tribological behavior of ta‐C coatings under dry or starving lubricated conditions was achieved by atomistic simulations of the tribological contact. Industrial utilization of these results would lead to a significant increase of the energy efficiency of combustion engines.