Effect of Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) Coating on Piston Crown on the Performance of a Gasoline Engine –Experimental Analysis

Abstract

Internal combustion (IC) engines play an important role in the area of the automotive industry. An IC engine discards approximately two-thirds of fuel energy to the atmosphere through exhaust valves and combustion chamber walls while only one-third is used as a power output. The chief goal of ceramic thermal barrier coating (TBC) is to drop fuel consumption as well as improve the thermal efficiency (TE) of IC engines. In this article, the experimental investigation was performed on a single-cylinder gasoline engine. The piston crown was coated with Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) to analyze the effect of ceramic TBC on the engine performance and its results compared with the conventional engine piston. Al2O3 ceramic was used for TBC because of its appropriate physical properties such as a high coefficient of thermal expansion, low thermal conductivity, and stable phase structure against high temperatures. The results were obtained on a baseline engine and ceramic TBC Aluminum Oxide piston engine which were coated with thicknesses of 300 µm. TE of the LHR engine was improved by 2-3% over the uncoated engine. Fuel consumption and volumetric efficiency were reduced by 5-8% and 4-6%, respectively, over the baseline engine. The findings are applicable for the optimized performance of the IC engine at bench and commercial scales.