International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 1 Issue 4, October 2014

ISSN: 2349-8862

Study Of Performance Of Single Cylinder Diesel Engine With

Mullite As Thermal Barrier Coating

P. Bridjesh

G. Rajendra Prasad

Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha University,

Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

Bhajarang Engineering College, Ayathur, Veppampattu,

Thruvallur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract: Combustion characteristics are the most

important factors which affect engine brake power, fuel
consumption and exhaust emissions. In order to reduce the
heat loss from the combustion chamber to the cooling
system, ceramic coatings play a major role. With effective
application of ceramic coatings, the cooling system can be
completely eliminated from the engine. Experiments were
conducted on a single cylinder four stroke diesel engine
coated with Mullite of 0.4 mm thickness and a bond of
NiCrAlY of 140 um thickness on the piston crown, cylinder
head and valves. The study emphasise on performance
parameters like brake power and brake specific fuel
consumption on coated and uncoated conditions of the
engine. The results showed that there was 1.02% decrease in
brake specific fuel consumption and 0.9% of increase in
brake power of ceramic coated engine.
Keywords: Ceramic coating, Mullite, Brake power,
Brake specific fuel consumption

I.

INTRODUCTION

To improve the performance of the engine, the chemical

energy of the fuel should be completely converted into heat
energy and in turn into mechanical energy at the maximum
possible rate. Thermal barrier ceramic-coatings are becoming
more common in automotive applications. They are
specifically designed to reduce heat loss from engine
components when used under-bonnet, these have the positive
effect of reducing engine bay temperatures, therefore reducing
the intake air temperature. Although most ceramic-coatings
are applied to metallic parts directly related to the engine
components, technological advances now allow thermal
barrier coatings to be applied via plasma spray onto composite
materials. It is now commonplace to find ceramic-coated
components in modern engines and in high-performance
components in race series such as Formula 1. As well as
providing thermal protection, these coatings are also used to
prevent physical degradation of the composite material due to
friction. This is possible because the ceramic material bonds
with the composite, therefore forming a tough coating that
doesn't chip or flake easily. Ceramics can be cooled faster as
they possess higher thermal durability. In order to control heat
flow and temperature distribution, low thermal conductivity
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ceramics can be used 1. Higher thermal efficiency, reduced

emissions can be achieved by the use of ceramics as they
enhance the combustion phenomenon. Moreover, ceramics
show better wear characteristics than conventional materials.
In general, there would be increased cylinder work when the
heat rejection from the combustion chamber is low. This can
be achieved by using thermally insulated components 2.
Silicon nitride was used as coating on the surface of the
combustion chamber which gave 7% improvement in the
performance of the engine 3.
Mullite is one of the ceramic material which can be used
as thermal barrier coating with its low density and it can be
stable in chemical combustions.it is also thermally stable with
reasonable strength. It is a mixture of SiO2 and Al2O3 with
composition 3Al2O3.2SiO2. When compared with other
ceramic materials, Mullite has low coefficient of thermal
conductivity and is oxygen resistant.
Mullite coating crystallizes at 10231273 K, accompanied
by a volume contraction, causing cracking and de-bonding.
Mullite has excellent thermo-mechanical behaviour. However,
its low thermal expansion coefficient creates a large mismatch
with the substrate 4. To address this problem, a 140 m
thickness of NiCrAlY bond coat was used.

II.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

A four stroke, single cylinder, direct injected, watercooled, naturally aspirated diesel engine of Kirloskar make
was used for investigation. Details of the engine specifications
are given in Table 1.
Component
Make
Type of engine
Bore and Stroke
Compression ratio
BHP and rpm
Fuel injection pressure
Fuel injection timing
Specific fuel
consumption
Dynamometer

Specification
Kirloskar Engines Ltd, Pune
Four Stroke Single Cylinder
Water Cooled Engine
80 mm & 110 mm
17.5 : 1
5.2kW & 1500 rpm
200 N/m2
270 BTDC
0.25175 (kg/h)/kW
Eddy Current Dynamometer
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International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 1 Issue 4, October 2014
ISSN: 2349-8862
Table 1: Specifications of the engine
The objective of this study was to evaluate the
performance of the engine at varying engine loads with and
without ceramic-coating.

Figure 1: Experimental Set up

2

coated with the ceramic coating. Rate of fuel consumption was

reduced at lower loads. The brake specific fuel consumption at
full load of 18A on the engine with coating is 0.23 kg/kW h
and the brake specific fuel consumption without coating at full
load is found as 0.29 kg/kW h.

Figure 3: Load Vs Brake specific fuel consumption

9

3
1

Figure.2: Line diagram of experimental setup

1. Engine 2. Dynamometer 3. Crank angle encoder 4.
Load cell 5. Exhaust gas analyzer 6. Smoke meter 7. Control
panel 8. Computer 9. Silencer

BRAKE POWER

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The piston crown, cylinder head and valves were coated
with a bond coat of NiCrAlY of 140 um thickness and then
Mullite coating of 0.4 mm thickness is applied using plasmaspray technique. The experiments were conducted at varying
load levels, viz. 0A, 4A, 9A, 13A, 18A using an Eddy current
dynamometer. The performance parameters were assessed on
the engine with and without coating.

III.

Figure 4: Load Vs Brake power

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

BRAKE SPECIFIC FUEL CONSUMPTION

A graph is drawn between load vs brake specific fuel
consumption. It is shown in Figure 3. It was found from the
graph that the brake specific fuel consumption decreases as the
load increases on both variants. The brake specific fuel
consumption is reduced when the engine components were
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A graph is drawn between load and brake power, which is

shown in Figure 4. It is found from the graph that the brake
power is increased on both the variants as the load was
increased. The brake power was improved when the engine
components were coated with Mullite coating than the
uncoated condition. The brake power at full load of 18A when
the engine components were coated with Mullite coating was
found to be 4.22 kW and the brake power output was inferior
on uncoated engine. It was found that the brake power was
3.95 kW for an uncoated engine at full load of 18A. As the
loss of heat was low on a coated engine, there was
enhancement in the brake power.
CONCLUSION
The main objective of this study was to investigate the
performance of the diesel engine with Mullite coating and can
be concluded that the ceramic coatings offer enhanced brake
power and reduced brake specific fuel consumption.
Page 33

International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 1 Issue 4, October 2014
ISSN: 2349-8862
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