We visited Southwest Research Institute, the largest independent testing lab in the world, to find the answers to a simple question - What effect does cylinder bore finish have on the friction and wear of an internal combustion engine?

With the help of Dr. Peter Lee and the team at SwRI, we've launched an incredible research program to find those answers. Using sleeves honed to three different surface finish specifications - single grit, plateau and extreme plateau - the team at SwRI cut up the sleeves in sections for testing. These sleeve sections will be coupled with sections of three different piston rings - gas nitrided stainless steel, CrN coated stainless steel, and a new dual layer coated stainless steel ring.

Using a Plint reciprocating ring, the ring section can be rubbed against the cylinder section similar to the way an engine operates. This test rig allows us to vary the temperature, speed and load of the ring on liner contact. From that, we can measure the friction during operation. We can also use a 3D optical profilometer and used oil analysis to measure the wear of the ring and liner contact.

The results of this extensive test program will be featured in another video, so please stay tuned. For details on how the cylinder sleeves were honed, here's a link to that video:

https://youtu.be/q5LXQYSrzbo