Cyclic Indentation Method Applied to Evaluating Surface Degradation of Cylinder-Piston Group Parts

The development and usage of modern materials and coatings in the engine industry require the establishment of an optimal combination of durability, mechanical strength, and wear resistance under dynamic conditions. To achieve this goal, however, available tools to evaluate some of these properties are limited. Therefore, a technique was implemented for a comparative evaluation of the degradation of the physical and mechanical properties of materials and coatings under the friction process. This technique and the associated equipment called automatized tribological complex is based on the phenomenon of mechanically stimulated degradation of materials during friction with forced vibrations of the normal load caused by extraneous vibration sources and allows one to determine the degradation of the mechanical properties of surfaces (in particular, wear) locally, with high spatial resolution, and at different stages of the service life of cylinder-piston parts. The applicability of the developed technique for choosing the optimal combination of materials and coatings with enhanced performance was investigated and discussed in detail.