STTR Phase I: Lightweight Self-Lubricating Cylinder Liners for IC Engines to Conserve Energy and Reduce Emissions

这个小型企业技术转移第一阶段项目将研究一种混合、轻质铝自润滑复合材料系统，该系统有望减少内燃机气缸套的摩擦并提高其性能。内燃机运动部件之间的摩擦，特别是活塞环和气缸套之间的摩擦，占损害燃油经济性的寄生损失的很大比例。这项工作中要研究和优化的高性能材料可以减少一系列内燃机的机油和燃料消耗以及温室气体排放。据估计，全球所有内燃机气缸套的总市场()每年超过数十亿美元。每个内燃机都有一个或多个气缸。据估计，仅动力运动发动机的可用服务市场(SAM)就超过3500万美元。这些材料的最初目标市场将是小排量动力运动发动机的气缸套，并有可能在广泛的个人和商用车发动机的后续市场。该项目的智力优势部分来自于内燃机气缸用铝-碳化硅-石墨基混杂复合材料的结构-加工-性能关系数据库的开发。这将包括开发制造具有均匀分散的碳化硅和石墨的气缸套的加工方法，并将涉及气缸套材料的实验室和现场测试。该项目的工作将有助于量化和分析个人船舶发动机中不同混合复合材料内衬在摩擦系数、磨损率、燃油消耗和机油旁路方面的变化，从而帮助量化最终用户在节能、减少排放和提高性能方面的好处。该项目旨在了解复合成分的最佳配方，以在最大限度地降低成本的同时优化性能。在平衡成本、性能和排放特性的基础上，还没有对成分进行优化的基础性研究。这项工作将有助于开发一套根据所需性能优化衬里化学成分的设计原则。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will investigate a hybrid, lightweight aluminum self-lubricating composite system which has promise to reduce friction and improve performance of cylinder liners in internal combustion engines. Friction between moving parts in an internal combustion engine, especially between the piston rings and cylinder liner, accounts for a large percentage of the parasitic losses that harm fuel economy. The high-performance materials to be studied and optimized in this work can lead to reduced oil and fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in a range of internal combustion (IC) engines. The Total Available Market (TAM) for cylinder liners in all internal combustion engines worldwide is estimated to be in excess of several billion dollars per year. Every internal combustion engine has one or more cylinders. The served available market (SAM) for powersports engines alone is estimated to be greater than $35 million. The initial target market for these materials will be cylinder liners for small displacement powersports engines, with the potential for follow-on markets in a wide array of personal and commercial vehicle engines. The intellectual merit of this project derives in part from the development of a database of structure-processing-property relationships in hybrid aluminum-silicon carbide-graphite metal matrix composites for internal combustion engine cylinder applications. This will include development of processing methods to manufacture cylinder liners with uniform dispersions of SiC and graphite, and will involve both lab and field testing of cylinder liner materials. The project work will help quantify and analyze the changes in friction coefficient, wear rate, fuel consumption, and oil by-pass for different hybrid composite liners in personal watercraft engines, and thereby help quantify the benefits to the end user in terms of energy savings, reduced emissions and improved performance. This project is designed to understand the best formulation of composite constituents to optimize performance while minimizing cost. There has not been a fundamental study to optimize compositions based on balancing costs, performance and emission characteristics. This work will help to develop a set of design principles for optimized liner chemistries depending on desired performance.