STEEL PISTONS
Steel piston whose main material is alloy steel materials is produced using forging, precision casting and machining methods according to the type required to be produced. These steels used are also generally called tempered steel. These steels are suitable for hardening in terms of their chemical composition and reach high toughness values after heat treatment. As a result of these processes, they become suitable for use as engine parts.
Usage areas:
- New generation engines with high compression ratio and modern combustion chambers
- Heavy duty diesel engines
- Engines using multiple fuel systems
Advantages of Steel Pistons:
- While a normal aluminum piston can withstand up to 100 bar pressure, a steel piston of the same size can withstand up to 250 bar pressure.
- Since the steel pistons have higher thermal stability compared to aluminum pistons and are an iron-based material like the environment they work in, they can operate with lower clearance and cause less deformation in the liner due to less thermal expansions and compatibility with each other.
- Steel pistons provide the advantage of lower engine height when using the original connecting rod compared to aluminum pistons.
- It allows the cooling channel to be closer to the top of the piston in pistons with cooling channels, which provides more efficient cooling.
- Steel pistons have minimum combustion chamber deformation compared to aluminum pistons.
- Steel pistons provide fewer losses due to friction forces compared to aluminum pistons since the contact distance with the cylinder liner is less.
- Due to the thinner wall thickness in the design of steel pistons, an average of 5% weight reduction can be achieved on the crank in certain situations.
- Piston melting and piston puncture problems arising from overfill systems and fuel injection systems in steel pistons do not occur.