Advanced Metals
New Application of Aluminium Alloy
Owing to the fact that the subject material of this article is, in itself, fairly unremarkable, we should, perhaps, consider what it is that makes a material advanced. Is it significant that it is of an unusual composition? Perhaps we consider a material to be advanced if it has unusual or desirable properties. Possibly a combination of criteria make a material seem advanced to us. An interpretation which I would like to use, for the purposes of this article at least, and perhaps for other articles to follow is that a material is an advanced one if it offers us new opportunities in design.
RET Focus: Advanced Metals, view the latest magazine article here.
The terms rolling contact bearing, anti friction bearing and rolling element bearing are used to describe that class of bearing in which the main load is transferred through elements in rolling contact with each other. Friction in a rolling element bearing is present, but it is negligible when compared to the starting friction of a journal type bearing. The load, bearing speed and the viscosity of the lubrication all affect the friction within the bearing. Although it is not technically correct to refer to this type of bearing as anti friction, it is a name that is in constant use. 
Perhaps the most noticeable trend in lubricant technology over the last 30 years or so is the movement towards lower viscosity oils. The relentless drive for greater efficiency and hence higher power has led to developments where in the past claims of an increase of up to 25kW have been made in a Formula One engine just by changing the oil. Whether you believe this to be true or not is immaterial but research over the years has shown that reducing the viscosity of the oil can lead to friction reduction in the piston ring pack and the bearings. However with its altogether much 
There are a number of surface treatments which go under the generic term ‘phosphating’, but not all are used for the same purposes and equally not all will be potentially of use to us as engine designers or in specifying parts which will increase performance or reliability.
In the case that you don’t have this article delivered to your inbox, I hope that the title has drawn you here either in the hope that you will find how to make your con rods smaller and lighter (in which case you may be disappointed) or because you disagree with the fundamental statement of the title.
In the author’s article on the mitigation of stress concentration in critical areas of crankshafts last month (Crankshafts: Stress-concentration mitigation), we mentioned the 1943 paper by Matinaglia. Some of his findings are repeated in the books by C.F. Taylor, which, if you don’t have a copy of these, you would do well to avail yourself of. The paper by Matinaglia is worth reading but, having been published many decades ago in a trade journal, is not easy to get sight of.
The most common type of engine dynamometer today used by engine builders the world over, must be the eddy current machine. But few will ever forget, of those who ever used them, the DPX water brake. Made by Froude in Worcester, England since shortly after the turn of the (20th) century, and once to be found gracing some out-of-the-way engine test facility at University, to many this would be their introduction to the subtle art of engine testing. Classed as a fluid friction device, resistance to the torque of the engine is offered by a combination of shaft bearing friction, 
In a conventional multi-point port injected gasoline engine the fuel is introduced into the air stream in the form of a jet of liquid. Atomising into small droplets, these mix with the air, begin to vaporise and eventually get carried off past the intake valves and into the combustion chamber. In between, varying amounts of this fuel might condense on the wall, travel along it and eventually vaporise back into the air stream. However the presence of this fuel, often referred to as a ‘puddle’ can have a significant effect on 
In the previous RET Monitor article on the subject of 
In previous articles on the subject of fasteners, we have dwelt very little on the subject of female threads, other than in the article talking of bespoke nuts. The other main situation where we will find female threads is where these have been machined into castings or into machined parts. Unless the rules forbid their use, it is likely that we will have chosen an aluminium block, or where we are designing bespoke parts, aluminium is a very popular material, either in its cast or wrought forms, owing to its low density. Where 
I guess you could say that the first decade of the 21st century, in the world of motor sport at least, were the years of the alternative fuels. Diesel (yes, we’re talking motor sports here), bio-ethanol, RME (rape methyl esters) and even CNG (compressed natural gas) have all been used during the decade for one kind of motor racing or another but there was one type of alternative fuel going back to the eighties and which didn’t quite make the headlines, for obvious reasons - and that was toluene. C7H8 to give it its 
An engineer should not only have solid grounding in the fundamentals of his discipline but an interest in history too. A thorough understanding of the principles involved in product design is, I would have thought, an absolute necessity but an appreciation of all that has gone before is as equally valuable. So when other people are perhaps relaxing or enjoying the fruits of their labour I often prefer to saunter around some of the smaller transport museums in this land. On one occasion hidden behind a glass case I came 
Connected between the flywheel and the continuously variable transmission of the Flybrid, mechanical KERS is an epicyclic gear system, the focus of this article.
It is a rather strange but ironic fact of life that once a racing engine gets over a certain age then the biggest causes of failure are not likely to be those associated with excessive loads or the breakdown of lubrication, but simply that of corrosion. In the prime of its often very short racing life, an engine may be cosseted by professionals whose whole existence is centred on the well-being of that unit. It will be stripped, cleaned and examined on a regular basis and then re-assembled with the utmost care and then crated away into storage perfectly preserved until the time comes for it to be active again and give its best.
Of all the components in a typical oil system, the function and hence usefulness of the oil filter in a modern racing engine must surely be one for review. Designed to separate the larger particles which somehow accumulate in the oil and prevent them from returning back into the engine, there is little doubt that in most roadgoing vehicles some kind of filter may be necessary. In a racing engine however, which is put together under the cleanest of conditions and then assembled into the chassis in workshops where quite frankly, I 
Toyota Racing Development’s MAHLE Motorsports pistons are somewhat similar to the 2618 material typically used in NASCAR Sprint Cup applications, according to Brad Green at MAHLE’s Fletcher, North Carolina American headquarters. As TRD continues to try and gain performance edges while having to deal with shrinking budgets - as everyone does these days - using exotic materials just isn’t the route to take.
Toyota Racing Development (TRD) of Costa Mesa, California maintains a long-term relationship with pushrod manufacturer Trend Performance of Warren, Michigan. “We’ve worked with them on many other projects as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup developments,” notes David Currier, vice president of engine engineering at TRD.
There have been many different types of piston ring developed over the years. Rectangular, taper face, barrel face, scraper, Napier, torsional twist, reversed torsional twist to name but a few. But one particular version that seems almost totally forgotten today, except for a few highly specialised applications is that of the Dykes ring. Peculiarly ‘L’-shaped in cross-section and named after it’s inventor not an embankment built to prevent flooding as might be at first thought, the Dykes ring was a regular feature on many a 
The interaction between the elastomer seals in an engine and its lubricant is an ongoing battle. Referred to simply as ‘compatibility issues’ by the specialists, the damage inflicted on the seal by the lubricant can manifest itself in two ways. The first of these is considered to be the direct chemical attack on the elastomer matrix resulting in its loss of performance (as a seal) while the second is the combined effect of this and the dynamic stresses applied. While the latter can be addressed by thorough dynamic testing, much of 
When we specify or design components for a racing engine, quite often we are interested in the surface finish. It is an important aspect of the overall perceived quality of the component, and it can have a large influence on the performance of the part in question for a number of reasons, of which there are three main ones to consider, namely endurance, wear and friction.
In recent RET-Monitor features we have considered several aspects of transmission design and engineering, each time with the implicit assumption that some means of gearing between the power unit and road wheels was a prerequisite feature.
As the newest player in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup arena, Toyota Racing Development (TRD) in Costa Mesa, California is playing catch-up to manufacturers that have been in the sport for many, many years. According to David Currier, vice president of engine engineering for TRD, his company prefers to use multiple sources for its double-spring valve springs.
In a previous RET Monitor articles, we have looked at a couple of valve materials, namely titanium and titanium aluminide. The chief advantage of these materials is their low density which has obvious appeal when trying to keep control of valves at increasing engine speeds. Titanium aluminide, besides being possessed of even lower density than titanium has the additional advantage of increased stiffness, making it an excellent choice for poppet valves. 