Ceramic Injection Molding Contributes to CO₂ Reduction

The company QSIL Ingenieurkeramik recently celebrated a milestone: the 11 millionth ceramic sliding shoe for axial piston pumps left the factory. This pump component helps manufacturers of diesel engines to reduce emissions.

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The sliding shoe developed by QSIL, which has established itself as a standard component for controllable water pumps in 4-cylinder diesel engines, runs against a stainless-steel swashplate during engine operation. The pressure thus generated serves as a hydraulic actuator for controlling the control technology. This enables the engine's warm-up phase to be significantly shortened and, during thermal management, the coolant flow can be controlled as required.

Shortening the warm-up phase makes a significant contribution to reducing climate-damaging exhaust gases during cold starts. In normal operation, the water pump can be regulated according to demand. This reduces the power consumption of the pump and thus CO₂ emissions.

The sliding shoe is made from Silicon Nitride (Si₃N₄) ceramic, also known as non-oxide ceramic. Compared to conventional DLC-coated steel parts (DLC = "diamond-like carbon"), this high-performance ceramic material offers better performance at a lower price. The advantage of ceramic sliding blocks compared to sliding blocks made of coated steel is the significantly lowered friction. This reduces CO₂ emissions from vehicles and also increases driving comfort due to the shorter warm-up phase.