The effects of AlTi5B1 grain refinement and cooling rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a secondary AlSi7Cu3Mg alloy were reported. Metallographic and image analysis techniques ...have been used to quantitatively examine the macrostructural and microstructural changes occurring with the addition of grain-refining agent at different cooling rates by using a step casting die. The results indicate that the addition of AlTi5B1 produces a fine and uniform grain structure throughout the casting and this effect is more pronounced in the slowly solidified regions. Increasing the cooling rate, lower amount of grain refiner is necessary to produce a uniform grain size throughout the casting. On the other hand, the initial contents of Ti and B, present as impurity elements in the supplied secondary alloy, are not sufficient to produce an effective grain refinement. The results from the step casting geometry were applied to investigate a gasoline 16V cylinder head, which was produced by gravity semi-permanent mould technology. The grain refinement improves the plastic behaviour of the alloy and increases the reliability of the casting, as evidenced by the Weibull statistics.
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•A novel general HCF reliability assessment framework of structural components based on BPNN is proposed.•The failure probability curve and sensitivity of the cylinder head are ...obtained.•Gas force is identified as the key load influencing factor to fatigue reliability of cylinder head.•BPNN is verified to accelerate fatigue reliability assessment with high accuracy.
Fatigue reliability (FR) evaluation is crucial for extending the service life and improving the reliability of automotive engines. This study proposed a general framework for assessing high cycle FR based on the back propagation neural network (BPNN). Using a diesel engine cylinder head (CH) as an example, the stochastic finite element analysis was implemented by considering the uncertainties of materials and loads. Subsequently, the stochastic finite element calculation process was replaced with the BPNN model to expedite fatigue life prediction. Ultimately, the reliability assessment of the CH was conducted, taking into account the influence of the load sequence. The research findings indicated that the reliable life t0.95 of the CH considering the load sequence was approximately 75 h, representing a 7.1% increase compared to the linear cumulative damage. During the service life of the CH, the failure probability sensitivity factor for the gas force load exceeded 0.9, offering an important reference for optimizing FR.
The article is devoted to the following issues: boiling of fluid in the cooling jacket of the engine cylinder head; agents that influenced the thermal conductivity coefficient of nanofluids; behavior ...of nanoparticles and devices with nanoparticles in the engine’s cylinder head cooling system. The permissible temperature level of internal combustion engines is ensured by intensification of heat transfer in cooling systems due to the change of coolants with “light” and “heavy” nanoparticles. It was established that the introduction of “light” nanoparticles of aluminum oxide Al2O3 Al2O3 into the water in a mass concentration of 0.75% led to an increase in its thermal conductivity coefficient by 60% compared to the base fluid at a coolant temperature of 90 °C, which corresponds to the operating temperature of the engine cooling systems. At the indicated temperature, the base fluid has a thermal conductivity coefficient of 0.545 Wm2×°C W/(m °C), for nanofluid with Al2O3 particles its value was 0.872 Wm2×°C. At the same time, a positive change in the parameters of the nanofluid in the engine cooling system was noted: the average movement speed increased from 0.2 to 2.0 m/s; the average temperature is in the range of 60–90 °C; heat flux density 2 × 102–2 × 106 Wm2; heat transfer coefficient 150–1000 Wm2×°C. Growth of the thermal conductivity coefficient of the cooling nanofluid was achieved. This increase is determined by the change in the mass concentration of aluminum oxide nanoparticles in the base fluid. This will make it possible to create coolants with such thermophysical characteristics that are required to ensure intensive heat transfer in cooling systems of engines with various capacities.
This paper proposes a casting improvement process to enable the casting of Al-Cu alloy cylinder heads to achieve the required quality. The hot tearing defects generated in the fire face of the ...cylinder head during casting were simulated using MAGMA software. The simulation results show that the large wall thickness transition difference in the fire face of the cylinder head is the reason for the large temperature and stress gradient during solidification. Therefore, the first solution was optimised by forming the fire face as a whole into a flat plate, but the fire face centre area stress is still too high. The second optimisation option optimises the cold iron structure of the fire face, the probability of cracking in the fire face is reduced to 17%. These results have important reference significance for the optimisation of the Al-Cu alloy cylinder head hot tearing problem.
The paper presents the initial design of the four-cylinder CI engine head and the analysis of the strength of the head with the use of FEM. The article covers: general assumptions of the designed ...head, analytical design calculations, three-dimensional head model and timing system components using CAD. The scope of calculations using the head calculation model includes strength calculations and determination of the amount of strain caused by the given load.
The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of the addition of different amounts of zirconium (0.05; 0.10; 0.15 and 0.20 wt. % Zr in the form of the AlZr20 master alloy) on selected properties of ...AlSi5Cu2Mg aluminum alloy. This is a new alloy for cylinder head castings and has only been used for a relatively short time. The specificity of this alloy is its chemical composition—specifically the low permitted Ti content, which makes it impossible to refine the grain structure of this alloy using standard Al-Ti-B grain refiners. The aim of our ongoing research is to find a suitable alloying element that would positively mainly affect the mechanical and also physical properties of this alloy, which are crucial for complex automotive castings such as cylinder heads. The results of our research showed that increasing zirconium content had no effect on the increase in ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and hardness of as-cast samples. After T7 heat treatment, a more significant increase in UTS, YS and thermal conductivity occurred due to the precipitation of Cu- and Mg-rich strengthening precipitates. Zirconium-rich intermetallic phases were observed in the shape of separate thick needles or as a cluster of two crossed thinner needles. SEM observations showed that these phases crystallized near to the intermetallic phases based on Cu and Fe. Increasing the Zr content was accompanied by an increase in liquidus temperature, the density index and the area fraction of porosity values.
Due to the complex structures and severe working conditions, including the erosion of high-temperature gas and alternating combustion pressure, the thermal–mechanical fatigue is more likely to occur ...on the loading surface, which will also have serious impacts on the reliability of marine diesel engine. Herein, based on the three-dimensional fluid–solid coupling analysis, a highly effective four-zone heat transfer model is proposed for analyzing the rules of fatigue life of a new-type high power density diesel engine cylinder head, which can greatly simplify the calculation process of thermal fluid–solid coupling and improve the analysis efficiency by 95%. The accuracy of the model is verified by the temperature field test (with the maximum error of 5.6%) and mechanical fatigue test (with the maximum error of 4.1%). The influence law of operating conditions such as in-cylinder pressure and temperature on high cycle fatigue (HCF) and low cycle fatigue (LCF) life is analyzed. Therefore, the generalized Eying model is obtained, which can establish a direct relationship among the cylinder head fatigue life, average gas temperature as well as maximum combustion pressure, potentially providing the reliability evaluation and optimization design for the diesel engine.
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•High-cycle fatigue failure analysis of cast Al-Si alloy cylinder heads.•Large defects with complex shape near surface is the main cause for crack initiation.•High porosity and SDAS ...promotes the rapid propagation of the cracks.•HCF tests verify poor microscopic properties lead to premature fatigue fracture.
Due to the premature fracture of several cast Al-Si alloy cylinder heads at the same position during high-cycle fatigue (HCF) bench test, the HCF failure analysis including finite element simulation, microscopic observation and fatigue tests were conducted to determine the root cause of the failure. The results show that the external load was not the main cause of the fracture. The large defects with complex shapes and low compactness near the surface, and the poor surface finish of the water jacket surface are the main causes for the quick initiation of cracks. Furthermore, the alloy at the failure location exhibits relatively high porosity and secondary dendrite arm spacing, accelerating the crack propagation rate. Compared with the alloy at the non-failure locations, the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the alloy at the failure location are reduced by 9.3%, 25.8% and 65.3%, respectively. The fatigue life of the alloy at the non-failure location is several times the alloy at the failure location, verifying that the local large defects and poor microstructure characteristics are the main causes for the low HCF strength of the cylinder head.
•Heat characterisation of a single-cylinder engine head was analysed at nine speeds.•Engine thermal conditions are determined by subdividing into multiple zones.•Unsteady thermal modelling was ...conducted and validated experimentally.•Thermal topologies present a correct heat path system for the engine cylinder head.•Thermal characteristics of the engine increase as the engine speed increases.
The valve train is located in the engine cylinder head, which has various operational heat transfer mechanisms to accommodate the combustion process. Most heat transfer studies in this area have only addressed medium-to high-power vehicles at a single running speed. In this study, a model of an air-cooled underbone motorcycle valve, valve seat, and engine cylinder head was tested to determine the thermal characteristics using actual engine operating conditions at low, medium, and high engine speeds. One-dimensional thermal simulation analyses were conducted to obtain the instantaneous heat-transfer coefficients of an actual engine. The average thermal value was determined as the boundary condition in the three-dimensional thermal analysis. A three-dimensional model was prepared using the ANSYS commercial computational fluid dynamics software package. The results show that as the engine speed increases, so does the thermal load toward the component in the engine cylinder head. The strongest temperature regions were concentrated around the combustion face. The exhaust valve held most of the heat, with the valve neck recording the highest temperature. For the intake valve, the combustion face registered the majority of the heat. The heat flux intensity was gathered in the contact surface area between the valve and its seat, between the valve stem and guide, and between the stem guide and tip section. A thermal survey was used to validate the three modelling results for two separate engine datasets. The cumulative relative errors for intake and exhaust valve seats for low engine speeds were 3.73% and 0.17%, respectively. The intake and exhaust valve seats had cumulative relative errors of 4.12% and 0.70%, respectively, at intermediate speeds. This methodology provides valuable information for analysing the heat characterisation of air-cooled engines. It can also be a useful blueprint for the automotive industry and other researchers involved in thermal measurements.
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