Design and Development of Exhaust Valves for Internal Combustion Engines from the Perspective of Modern Thinking: Part 2 1930--90 (2014)
Starr, Fred (Author)
International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology
Volume: 84
Pages: 1--29
The changes in high temperature materials for exhaust valves resulted from the development of the engine fuels. Ricardo and Midgley were the early pioneers of fuel improvement, but later on Houdry and Pines invented processes for upgrading straight run gasoline. None of the early alloys used for valves was specifically invented for that purpose. Marsh developed nickel-based alloys for a thermopile; Haynes, the Stellite series of cobalt alloys as ultrahard and corrosion-resistant materials; Brearley 12Cr martensitic stainless steels for erosion resistant gun barrels. In the 1920s, the automotive sector began to use Silchrome, which had good resistance to non-leaded fuels. However it was barely adequate in aero engines, and this stimulated the invention of sodium-cooled valves by Heron. Fuels containing tetraethyl lead, invented by Midgley, became standard during the 1930s, but lead from the combustion process was highly corrosive to Silchrome. A British austenitic alloy, KE965, proved to be much better, but during WWII this had to be given high nickel coatings. The Americans developed a material similar to KE965, but for high output radial engines used Inconel M and Stellite coatings. The post-war era has been dominated by the automotive sector. Low nickel austenitics superseded KE965, but Silchrome is still in use for inlet valves. Zero lead fuels caused problems with `valve seat recession' which has been overcome by induction hardening of cast iron seats, or by incorporating seat inserts. High performance cars have adopted Inconel and Nimonic alloys and sodium cooling, but lightweight titanium alloys are being used to give the ultimate in capability. Keywords: poppet valves, IC engine fuels, Silchrome, KE965, Stellite, nickel-based alloys, sodium cooled valves, exhaust valve corrosion, valve seat recession
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Dormidontov, Anatoliy;
(2013)
On the Most Powerful Liquid Propellant Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001321275/)
Article
Firsov, Alexander;
(2013)
Hamburg Period of Invention and Design Activity of a Russian Engineer Boris Lutzky
(/isis/citation/CBB001321279/)
Book
Lorenzo, Antonio Amado;
(2011)
Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile
(/isis/citation/CBB001201129/)
Article
Meyer, Carrie A.;
(2013)
The Farm Debut of the Gasoline Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001320819/)
Article
Downer, John;
(2007)
When the Chick Hits the Fan: Representativeness and Reproducibility in Technological Tests
(/isis/citation/CBB000780218/)
Article
Cater, John;
Lemco, Ian;
(2009)
Wittgenstein's Combustion Chamber
(/isis/citation/CBB000932250/)
Article
Firsov, Alexander;
(2012)
Boris Loutzky--Creator of the World's First Motorized Bicycle Classic Layout with a Combustion Engine
(/isis/citation/CBB001321285/)
Article
Firsov, A. V.;
(2012)
Creation of Four-Stroke Vertical Combustion Engine with Down Located Crankshaft: To the Question of Priority
(/isis/citation/CBB001321296/)
Article
Seth C. Rasmussen;
(2019)
From Aqua Vitae to E85: The History of Ethanol as Fuel
(/isis/citation/CBB267951418/)
Book
Stephen J. Pyne;
(2022)
The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next
(/isis/citation/CBB244686914/)
Article
Mariusz Jastrząb;
(June 2017)
Fiat’s small cars for Polish mass motorisation: The Small Engine Car Factory in Bielsko-Biała and Tychy, 1971–80
(/isis/citation/CBB542750309/)
Book
Springer, Anthony M.;
(2003)
Aerospace design: Aircraft, spacecraft, and the art of modern flight
(/isis/citation/CBB001180347/)
Article
Facundo Picabea;
(2022)
Aircraft without wings: local design and serial production of utilitarian vehicles in Argentina (1952-1955)
(/isis/citation/CBB126038070/)
Article
Charles K. Hyde;
(1996)
Assembly-Line Architecture: Albert Kahn and the Evolution of the U.S. Auto Factory, 1905-1940
(/isis/citation/CBB618737316/)
Article
Sovacool, Benjamin K.;
Brossmann, Brent;
(2013)
Fantastic Futures and Three American Energy Transitions
(/isis/citation/CBB001320573/)
Article
Friedman, Donald;
(2013)
A History of Building Technology and Preservation Engineering
(/isis/citation/CBB001320666/)
Book
Cary, Geoffrey;
Dovers, Stephen;
Lindenmayer, David;
(2003)
Australia Burning: Fire Ecology, Policy and Management Issues
(/isis/citation/CBB000502370/)
Article
Jones, Elizabeth;
(2014)
No Smoke Without Fire: Moor Burning, the Environment, and Social Reform in the German Empire, 1866--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB001421780/)
Article
Arnold, David H.;
(2021)
Fire, Forest, City: A Social Ecology of Fire in British India
(/isis/citation/CBB900555532/)
Book
Pyne, Stephen J.;
(2001)
Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910
(/isis/citation/CBB000650963/)
Be the first to comment!