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SAE TECHNICAL 942393

PAPER SERIES
E

Nittred Gray Cast Iron Piston Rings

Valmir Demarchi
Jan Vatavuk

COFAP

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Nittred Gray Cast Iron Piston Rings
ABSTRACT
The piston rings are responsible for maintaining
some engine functioning parameters in an acceptable
range, mainly the lubricant oil consumption and the
blow-by gases flow from the combustion chamber to
the crankcase. The wear resistance of these
components is related to their capacity of properly
exerting these functions during the whole engine life.
In Diesel engines, all the rings have a wear resistant
coating applied to their contact face with the cylinder
wall. However, the chrome plating of the second
groove compression ring is a conservative solution
with the possibility of the development of lower cost
alternatives.
This paper presents the results of engine tests that
compare the wear resistance of second groove rings
with chrome plating and rings made of nitrited gray
cast iron. Test results with similar gray cast iron rings
are also analyzed to infer the influence of the nitriding
treatment on the wear resistance of this material.
01. INTRODUCTION
Some internal combustion engine functioning
parameters degradation is related to the wear of the
piston rings, for instance the lubricant oil consumption
and the blow-by gases flow from the combustion
chamber to the crankcase. The importance of the
maintenance of these parameters at low levels during
the whole engine life is highlighted by the gaseous
emissions controls [1][2][3].
1
Valmir Demarchi
Jan Vatavuk
COFAP
During the World War II, there was the necessity of
increasing the wear resistance of the rings due to the
critical engine usage conditions. Therefore, an
electrolytic chrome plating in the contact face of the
rings started to be used. This development was some
time later transferred to general use vehicles,
sometimes in a conservative way.
In high loaded engines, specially Diesel engines,
wear and high temperature resistant coatings (cermet
coatings) [4] are used in the first groove rings and a
chrome plating in the other rings of the set. It is
important to note that the chrome plating has a high
production cost.
Through the analyses of piston rings after engine
tests, it can be noted that, in several cases. the second
groove ring presents much less wear mainly than the
first groove ring. This fact is due to the lower loads on
the second groove ring, showing superdimensioning of
the chrome plating for this particular application.
It demonstrates the necessity of an optimization of
this component by the use of alternatives that are
more economical and compatible with the life of the
other rings.
The nitriding treatment is an alternative to the
chrome plating with cost advantages and interesting
characteristics such as increase in the surface
hardness, low dimensional variations and, in some
applications, increase in the corrosion resistance.
Besides, the nitriding treatment does
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not present coating detachment problems because it

creates a layer that is continuous with the matrix [5][6].

Steel compression rings are largely used for

passenger cars engines, for low width rings, in
applications with lower mechanical loads, which is the
case of second groove rings of Diesel engines, the
gray cast iron is a more economical alternative and is
viable due to the necessary geometrical
characteristics.

This paper compares the wear resistance of

second groove piston rings made of nitrided gray cast
iron and chrome plated rings. The dynamometric tests
were run in two engines and the results were analyzed
to verify the wear compatibility between the second Figure 1 : Microhardness curve
groove ring and the other rings of the set.

02. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

2.1. MATERIAL - The material chosen for this

application was a gray cast iron that was rich in
carbide forming alloying elements and had a tempered
martensite matrix. Its chemical composition is
presented in table 1.

This material has a very high original wear

resistance due to the presence of complex carbides
and the high hardness of the martensitic matrix (426
HV 0.1). Furthermore, this material has high
mechanical resistance for this class of materials.

The chrome plating was a normal production one,

with approximately 1000 HV 0.2 hardness.

2.2. THERMOCHEMICAL TREATMENT - It was used

the gaseous nitrocarburizing treatment, with a total
cycle of seven hours and with three hours of nitriding
(constant temperature) at 580C.

Figure 1 shows the microhardness curve of the

treated material and figure 2 presents the cross Figure 2 : Cross section of the nitrided ring
section of the ring after the nitriding treatment.

Table 1: Chemical composition (wt %)

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Cu V Nb Mo
3.32 3.10 0.66 0.27 0.03 0.47 0.60 1.06 0.15 0.15 1.10

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It can be observed an increase in the matrix original
hardness of about 250HV up to approximately the
depth of 40m.
The nitrided layer thickness, measured
metallographic techniques, was 95m.
The mechanical resistance of the material before
and after the nitriding treatment is shown in table 2 and
was obtained by the calculation of the maximum stress
in the outer diameter of a rectangular ring when closed
by two parallel and tangent plates until breakage.
2.3. ENGINE TESTS - Two dynamometric engine
tests were run to evaluate the second groove ring
wear resistance, comparing the chrome plated with the
nitrided ring. The tests are characterized in table 3.
by
The engines were assembled with three second
groove rings each type, keeping the same section
(torsional, taper faced), and the normal production first
and third groove rings.
The engine used in test A had wet cylinder liners
made by centrifugal casting of pearlitic gray cast iron
with steadite and 260 HB187.5 (2.5mm sphere).

Table 2: Mechanical resistance (kgf/mm2) The engine of test B had no liners, having the
cylinders machined directly in the engine block made
Before treatment 71.4 of pearlitic gray cast iron.
After 3 hour nitriding 62.4

It can be noted that the mechanical resistance

decreases after the nitriding treatment, however with a
safe value to avoid problems during the ring assembly
in the piston.

Table 3: Dynamometric engine tests

Characteristics Test A Test B

Diesel cycle Diesel cycle

Four strokes Four strokes
Engine type 6 cylinders 6 cylinders
turbocharged turbocharged
9.6 L 5.96 L
Maximum power 203 kW at 2200 rpm 125 kW at 2600 rpm
Duration 400 hours 400 hours
Full load at maximum
Full load at maximum
Test procedure power speed with 10%
power speed.
overpower

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03. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The engines showed normal performance during all
the test with oil consumption and blow-by values
considered satisfactory. The lubrication of the
turbocharger was made separately by a specific
system for this purpose, eliminating the influence of
this component on the, measured oil consumption and
blow-by values. These results are presented in table 4.
Table 4 : Average oil consumption and
blow- by values
Oil Consumption Blow-by
Test
(g/kwh) (L/min)
A 0.28 29
B 0.26 59
The wear results will be presented by the increase
in the ring gap because this measurement represents
the average wear that occurred in the whole outer
diameter of the ring. Table 5 presents these results for
tests A and B.
It can be observed, in general analysis, that the first
groove rings had higher wear than the others,
exception made for the nitrided second groove rings of
test A, that showed similar wear. It is important to
emphasize that the top rings of test A were coated with
a high wear resistance cermet, what explains the
closeness in the wear values.
In test B, however, even the nitrided rings showed
smaller wear than the first groove rings that were
coated with a largely plasma sprayed molybdenum.
The nitrided second groove rings had wear from 2
to 2.7 times higher than the chrome plated ones. It is
important to mention, however, that in dynamometric
tests, results could be found where the second groove
chrome plated rings had wear ranging from 1.5 to 5.0
times lower than the moly coated first groove rings [7].
This difference has a tendency to be higher for results
coming from field (in vehicle) tests.
For this reason, the differences found in the wear of
the nitrided second groove rings in relation to the
chrome plated ones are still small, if one considers the
facts above discussed. However, some precaution
should be taken when the application is for a highly
loaded and high durability engine, where the wear
resistance is essential.
These comments are valid only when analyzing
second groove rings, which are the least loaded rings
in the set. When analyzing third groove rings, where
the contact pressure with the cylinder wall is very high,
the presence of the chrome plating is indispensable to
assure an adequate engine life, because this type of
ring has high responsibility in the good functioning of
the set.
The results in table 5 show that the third groove
rings of this study had smaller wear than the first
groove rings even when the latter were coated with a
cermet material (test A).

Table 5 : Piston ring wear - Gap increase (mm)

Groove Coating Test A Test B
1st Plasma sprayed Mo (*) 0.12 0.13
2nd Chrome 0.06 0.03
2nd Nitrided 0.12 0.08
3rd Chrome 0.09 0.08
(*) Test A : 64% Mo + 16% Ni rich microconstituent + 20% Cr 3C2
Test B : 80% Mo + 20% Ni rich microconstituent

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The nitriding treatment increased the wear resistance 05. REFERENCES

of the gray cast iron in 37%, by comparing the results
of this study with a similar test using a gray cast iron of
[1] Essig, G.; Kamp, H. and Wacker, E.
the same class, without treatment, in the second
"Diesel Engine Emissions Reduction - The
groove ring for the test A conditions. Figure 3 presents
Benefits of Low Oil Consumption Design"
the gap variation for these materials.
SAE Paper 90059, 1990

[2] Zelenka, P. et at.

"Ways Toward the Clean Heavy-Duty Diesel"
SAE Paper 900602, 1990

[3] Walsh, M.P. and Bradow, R.

"Diesel Particulate Control Around the World"
SAE Paper 910130, 1991

[4] Vatavuk, J. et al.

"Estudo do Efeito da Adio de Partculas
Duras em Coberturas Aspergidas por Plasma
para Anis de Pisto"
IX CBECIMAT, Aguas de So Pedro, 1990
p. 943-946.

[5] Metals Handbook - Volume 4

Figure 3: Gap increase for the 2nd groove ring " 9thEdition
materials ASM, Metals Park

[6] Demarchi, V. and Vatavuk, J.}

"Development of Nitrided Oil Control Rings
04. CONCLUSION with Contoured Rails"
n The first groove piston rings with molybdenum SAE Paper 931670, 1993
based coatings showed higher wear than the other
[7] Vatavuk, J.
rings, exception made to the nitrided gray cast iron
"Mecanismos de Desgaste em Anis de
in test A.
Pisto e Cilindros de Motores de Combustao
n The nitriding treatment increases the wear Intema"
resistance of the alloyed gray cast irons. Thesis presented to "Escola Politcnica da
Universidade de So Paulo"
n The wear of the second groove nitrided gray cast So Paulo, 1994.
iron rings was higher than the wear of the chrome
plated rings, however, still with conservative values
in relation to the wear of the first groove rings.

n The nitriding treatment lowers the mechanical

resistance of the alloyed gray cast iron rings,
however, it does not compromise their applicability
in industrial scale.