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Worldwide emissions standards are becoming increasingly rigorous, and this leads to more complex engine demands. Several new PCU (Power Cell Unit) technologies are being applied to cope with these demands. This means engine parameters are changing, e.g. higher EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) rates, higher PCP (Peak Cylinder Pressure), lower viscosity oils, higher oil contamination and soot. Therefore the operating conditions for the bearings have drastically changed, leading to an environment prone to seizure occurrences. There is a clear demand for seizure resistant bearings motivated mainly by the increased engine complexity described above. Therefore for HDD (Heavy Duty Diesel) applications the PCU robustness should not be compromised also in terms of wear and fatigue resistance. The polymeric coating developed by MAHLE was applied over a sputtered layer and has demonstrated to be a suitable solution to attend to the application demands.

The use of Biodiesel is one of the main drivers behind biomass fuels for diesel engine use. This paper compares the performance of powercell components after 100 thousand km field tests using different fuel variants. The tested engine was a 3.0L High Speed Diesel with 120kW @ 3800rpm. Two variants of B5 fuels were tested: one with oil from Soy Bean and other from Castor Bean. Each type of fuel, including regular Diesel, was tested twice. Compared to regular Diesel, the engines tested with B5 presented similar performance [1]. The evaluated powercell parts were: piston, rings, bearings, and cylinder bores. The parts were evaluated in terms of wear, seizure and corrosion. The parts from the B5 tests presented similar visual characteristics after test compared with regular Diesel. A slight wear increase was observed on the parts that ran with the B5 variants. In the case of bearings, corrosion residues were observed with B5 from Castor oil.