Component Wear in Coal-Fueled Diesel Engines

Practical use of coal-fueled diesel engines depends on the improvement of component durability. The wear characteristics of standard materials in the coal-fueled engine were studied first. Candidate wear-resistant materials were sorted by bench-scale tests. The best material combinations were applied to small-scale engine tests for operation on seeded diesel fuel. Components with hard materials and coatings were scaled up for coal-water mixture testing on the locomotive engine. Results indicate practical solutions for ring and liner wear and positive progress toward defining the material requirements for the fuel injection nozzle.