Tribological Behaviour under Conformal and Non-Conformal Contact Condition of Piston Ring and Cylinder Liner Material in a Reciprocating Bench Test

Abstract

Experiments on cylinder liner and piston ring were carried out on a reciprocating tester to measure the coefficient of friction. The tribological behaviour for conformal and non-conformal contacts was compared. Actual cylinder liner is and piston ring is used for conformal contact, which is cut as per the required dimension. After analyzing the composition of the liner material, a specimen is prepared for non-conformal contact. Tests were conducted for variable load, variable speed and variable temperature with various commercial lubricants to measure the friction coefficient. The result shows that conformal contact shows significant variation in friction coefficient as compared to non-conformal contact for all operating parameters. The geometry of contact, oil quantity, and viscosity of lubricant plays a vital role to characterize the behaviour of friction coefficient and wear.