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Date:         Tue, 19 Aug 1997 16:15:34 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tim Smith <smitht@unb.ca>
Subject:      ceramic coatings

Hi Ken/All,

I teach in an engineering dept. here, and supervised a project that involved ceramic coating on piston, valves and head. Exhaust valve coating 'wore' off during use, others showed no signs of wear. Silicon nitride drops heat conduction coefficient to 1/6th of that of steel, and boosts combustion chamber temps hence efficiency. Better coating is zirconia type, drops to <1/25th.

Coating was applied by Adiabatics Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, coating LT-450, a ceramic metal, cermet, type (of 70% cubic zirconia)

There are reported power gains( GM 2.5l engine) of 18% at low-mid RPMs, 10% at mid-upper, but also of fall-off by 8% at higher RPMs due to lubrication problems. The engine we did, a Briggs and Stratton 2HP destined for Shells SuperMileage Competition, showed 7% increase in torque that dropped off to 1.3% at higher RPMs. Best part was the 15% reduction in fuel consumption at mid RPM. Bottom line was fairly consistent 2% increase in combustion efficiency.

Can't remember pricing at all, rest I'm reading from the report. Remember, YMMV, and it will! :) Since Todd Francis has posted about having badly pitted heads fixed up with ceramics, it is a small step further to get the heads completely sprayed. Maybe a nice option for someones next wasserpisser rebuild. bye, Tim


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