RF85 was covered last year in the pages of the May 2009 Race Engine Technology, but in that instance most of the data presented referred to the results of tests on cutting tools such as saw blades and taps. I spoke recently to the owner of Better Than New, in Tennessee, US, the company which carries out the RF85 surface treatment and which claims to reduce dry friction between metal pairs by around 85% (hence the name RF85). RF85 say people send the whole disassembled engine for...
Aluminium offers many benefits to mechanical engineering designers, and racing engine designers have long been keen to exploit its low density and good strength. There are now aluminium alloys commercially available with tensile strengths well above 700 MPa (>100 ksi) and the development of alloys for specific properties has accelerated in recent years. One disadvantage with aluminium, however, is its propensity to oxidise - anyone who has left their motorcycle outside in a British...
In the last article on the subject of surface finish, we looked at some of the important reasons for providing a good level of surface finish. On surfaces involved in sliding contact we can help to ensure that the lubricant film maintained by the basic geometry of the components and their motion is thick enough to keep the high-points or asperities of the two surfaces apart by providing a smoother surface with less peaks, and also peaks which are of a lower height. We also noted that the...
When we specify or design components for a racing engine, quite often we are interested in the surface finish. It is an important aspect of the overall perceived quality of the component, and it can have a large influence on the performance of the part in question for a number of reasons, of which there are three main ones to consider, namely endurance, wear and friction. In terms of endurance, we know from reading Race Engine Technology, other magazines, learned papers and textbooks but...
In racing we rely much more on machined components than our counterparts in the arena of series production engine design - we need to make parts quickly, we need the flexibility to make swift design changes and we want to take advantage of the improved mechanical and fatigue properties that high quality wrought materials offer us compared to castings etc. Whilst we all want to save money, especially in these straitened times of financial recession, we have less financial constraints than...