Internal Combustion Engine Research Paper

1. Introduction
1.1 Problem Background
For years, the Internal Combustion Engine has been around, the use of ferrous alloys as its crank is mostly common. Because of the reliance on fossil fuel, these internal combustions need to be sustainable. Although efforts of finding alternative platforms for power generation like electricity and hydrogen fuel cell, these are still far in terms mass production readiness and affordability compared to the Internal Combustion Engine. To sustain remaining fossil fuels, a more efficient design must be considered in designing the crankcase for Internal Combustion Engine. Therefore, in recent years there has been a shift in crank designs moving to aluminium as its block and cylinder head. In the 1990s it was

Nitriding is a Surface treatment that improve a metal’s surface properties by diffusing nitrogen into the surface from a nitrogen-rich gas, usually ammonia. The nitriding process is done at 480 – 565 oC which is well below the critical temperature of iron, this makes nitriding a case hardening treatment that does not affect core microstructure to change. The temperature needs to be in this range in order for the nitrogen to penetrate to the passive film of the metal if it has.

Plasma nitriding for aluminium is done to improve the wear resistance for Internal Combustion Engine components. For Aluminium, plasma nitriding is separated into three process: pre-sputtering, nucleation of aluminium nitride and growth of the nitrided layer. Because Aluminium may exhibit an oxide layer that act as passivation film, the passive film needs to be removed by pre-sputtering of N2+ ions. After the passivation film is removed, the N2+ ions will diffuse into the aluminium layer at nitriding temperature, the incubation time is how long the N2+ ions are sputtered on the surface, this can act as a factor to the nucleation process to occur on the surface to form AlN nodules. After AlN nodules are formed, diffusion of N2+ will be slower as most surface has been covered by the nitride

Under this electrical condition, the plasma can only be formed on the surface of metal screen rather than on the sample surface. Consequently, the active screen plasma nitriding could overcome the inherent limitations of conventional DC plasma nitriding techniques, and it possesses the potential for mass production.

The active screen is added to directs the ionic particles to the metal substrate by gas flow and bias. It also radiates heat away from the substrate and direct it into the vacuum chamber so that the vacuum chamber is brought to the desired temperature quicker. Due to the plasma formation on the screen as well as to the dimension of the screen meshes preventing discharge of arc during sputtering thus eliminating the hollow cathode effect.

The precursor is an iron nitride particle that carries the nitride that will be layered on the substrate. The iron nitride particles that are sputtered from the active screen to