As the automotive industry shifts toward hybrid and alternative drive concepts like electromobility, it remains vital to continuously improve internal combustion technology. Internal combustion applications represent the largest portion of transportation technologies. Continuous development and improvement of passenger car engines focus on reducing emission by weight reduction and enhanced efficiency. To gain a competitive advantage in present and future engines, Mercedes-Benz AG developed the innovative NANOSLIDE Ò technology that uses thermal spray technology, i.e., twin wire arc spray, to coat the internal diameter of cylinder bores. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is utilized to investigate the complex gas flow in the cylinder bore of the crankcase during the coating process. Extensively experiments are performed and analyzed to compare the results with the quantitative analysis in order to enhance the properties of the cylinder coating. The combination of simulation and coating experiments led to the development of uniform distributed layer adhesion strength throughout the length of the cylinder bore.

With intent to increase the efficiency of combustion engines in passenger cars, thermally sprayed cylinder bore coatings replaced cast iron liners as cylinder running surfaces over the past years. Since the functionality of an engine depends on the life-long integrity of these coatings only a few μ 100 m thick, monitoring their physical properties in series production is most important. This contribution focuses on the non-destructive testing of thermally sprayed coatings by thermal wave interferometry (TWI), investigating the relationship between thermal and microstructural properties. Microstructural characteristics such as laterally expanded splat interfaces or spherical pores correlate with macroscopic quality criteria such as adhesion, cohesion, or corrosion resistance. Further on, especially splat interfaces act as thermal barriers within the coatings. Hence, TWI thermal diffusivity measurements were compared to optical microscopy images of polished cross sections and threedimensional X-ray computed tomography data at multiple positions in a crankcase. Both, microscopy images as well as computed tomography data were analyzed quantitatively by image processing algorithms. Due to this, local variations in thermal diffusivity were found, which revealed a significant correlation with microstructural characteristics. Further on, a significant influence of the amount, size, and shape of microstructural volume defects on the local thermal diffusivity of thermally sprayed coatings is carried out in this contribution.

This paper presents a novel approach to enhance the corrosion resistance of cylinder-bore coatings for internal combustion engines by changing surface characteristics and microstructures of the coating and utilizing alternative materials. The approach of this study refers to the knowledge of the complex gas-flow conditions during the internal-diameter coating of cylinder-bores using a twin-wire arc-spray process. Selective influencing of the gas flow enables the preparation of sample coatings with inhomogeneous and more homogeneous microstructures and surfaces. The various coatings were exposed to corrosive environments using the Kesternich testing method and an alternating immersion test. Significant improvements in corrosion resistance have been demonstrated by up to 50 % through altering the microstructure of the coating and almost 100 % by additional changing the spraying material. The study reveals an increased protection of cylinder-bore coatings against corrosive attacks through a homogeneous microstructure prepared in oxygen-poor coating conditions.

In this paper, the principles of computational fluid dynamics are used to simulate the complex gas flows in the cylinder bore of an automotive engine during internal-diameter twin-wire arc spraying. A number of experiments are conducted as well and the results are presented and analyzed in order to optimize the properties of the coating. The combination of simulation and experiments led to the development of a process that achieves uniform layer adhesion strength over the length of the cylinder bore.

Laser-excited Lock-In Thermography is used to evaluate the thermal diffusivity of thermally sprayed cylinder bore coatings of passenger car engines. Further, microstructural analysis as well as adhesion testing of the investigated cylinder bore coatings are acquired to evaluate microstructural and mechanical properties. Investigation of the interaction between thermal diffusivity, microstructural and mechanical properties disclose major correlations between the observed quantities. The application of thermal diffusivity measurements as a non-destructive testing method of adhesion strength in thermally sprayed cylinder bore coatings is discussed in this work.