Steel piston for an internal combustion engine and method for its production

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9581104-B2
Application number	US-201414516226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2014
Priority date	Oct 17, 2013
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

A steel piston for an internal combustion engine may include a piston crown and a protective layer disposed on the piston crown. The protective layer may include an adhesion layer of Cr or CrN, which is present on a surface of the piston crown. The protective layer may include a functional layer, which is present on the adhesion layer. The functional layer may have at least one of (i) at least one layer (A) of CrN and (ii) at least one layer (B) of CrOn in the form of [(A)/(B)] a , and a may represent 1 to 100.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A steel piston for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a piston crown and a protective layer disposed on the piston crown, wherein the protective layer includes:
a) an adhesion layer of Cr or CrN, which is present on a surface of the piston crown, and
b) a functional layer, which is present on the adhesion layer, wherein the functional layer has at least one of (i) a layer (A) of CrN and (ii) a layer (B) of CrON, wherein the functional layer has a layer sequence in the form of [(A)/(B)] a , and wherein a=1 and the layer of (B) of CrON is present as a gradient layer with increasing oxygen content in a direction of a surface of the layer which faces away from the adhesion layer.

2. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the adhesion layer is CrN.

3. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the protective layer has a thickness of 1 μm to 15 μm.

4. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the adhesion layer has a thickness of 0.5 μm to 5 μm.

5. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the functional layer has a thickness of 0.5 μm to 10 μm.

6. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the layers (A) and (B) independently respectively have a thickness of 0.04 μm to 0.25 μm.

7. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the layers (A) and (B) respectively have the same thickness.

8. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the protective layer is present only on a bowl edge of the piston crown.

9. The steel piston according to claim 1 , wherein the protective layer further includes a plurality of alternating layers of CrN and CrON disposed on the functional layer.

10. A steel piston for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a piston crown and a protective layer disposed on the piston crown, wherein the protective layer includes:
a) an adhesion layer of Cr or CrN, which is present on a surface of the piston crown, and
b) a functional layer, which is present on the adhesion layer, wherein the functional layer has at least one of (i) a layer (C) of AlCrO and (ii) a layer (C′) of AlCrO′, wherein the layer (C′) of AlCrO′ differs in oxygen content from the layer (C) of AlCrO, and wherein the functional layer has a layer system in the form of [(C)/(C′)] a , wherein a is a number of sequenced layers of the layer system and ranges from 1 to 100.

11. The steel piston according to claim 10 , wherein a=1.

12. The steel piston according to claim 11 , wherein the layer (C′) of AlCrO′ has a thickness of 0.04 μm to 0.25 μm.

13. The steel piston according to claim 11 , wherein the layer (C′) is present as a gradient layer with increasing oxygen content in a direction of a surface of the layer which faces away from the adhesion layer.

14. The steel piston according to claim 10 , wherein a=2 to 100.

15. The steel piston according to claim 10 , wherein at least one of (i) the adhesion layer has a thickness of 0.5 μm to 5 μm, and (ii) the functional layer has a thickness of 0.5 μm to 10 μm.

16. The steel piston according to claim 10 , wherein the layers (C) and (C′) each respectively have a thickness of 0.04 μm to 0.25 μm.

17. A method for producing a steel piston for an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of:
providing a steel piston, which has a piston crown, and
applying a protective layer onto the piston crown via a physical vapour deposition (PVD) method, wherein applying the protective layer includes the steps of:
applying an adhesion layer of Cr or CrN to a surface of the piston crown; and
depositing a functional layer onto the adhesion layer, the functional layer including one of:
(a) a layer of CrN and a layer of CrON disposed on the layer of CrN, wherein the layer of CrON is present as a gradient layer with increasing oxygen content in a direction of a surface of the layer which faces away from the adhesion layer; and
(b) at least one of a layer of AlCrO and a layer of AlCrO′, the layer of AlCrO′ differing in oxygen content from the layer of AlCrO, wherein the functional layer has a layer system in the form of [AlCrO/AlCrO′] a , wherein a is a number of sequenced layers of the layer system and a=1 to 100.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein applying the protective layer via the PVD method occurs at a temperature of 150° C. to 550° C.

Assignees

• Mahle Int Gmbh
• Oerlikon Trading Ag
• Oerlikon Surface Solutions Ag Pfäffikon

Inventors

• Lehnert Monika
• Rose Reinhard
• Ramm Juergen
• Widrig Beno

Classifications

• C23C28/048

  with layers graded in composition or physical properties · CPC title

• C23C14/025

  Metallic sublayers · CPC title

• C23C28/044

  coatings specially adapted for cutting tools or wear applications · CPC title

• C23C14/0641

  Nitrides (C23C14/0617 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C28/042

  including a refractory ceramic layer, e.g. refractory metal oxides, ZrO2, rare earth oxides · CPC title