Surface treatment selections for automotive applications

Surface treatments used in daily manufacturing of parts for the automotive industry are selected to serve functional and decorative requirements achieved by mass production. Increased loads (mechanical, thermal, etc.), longer lifetime, weight reduction, friction reduction, and corrosion resistance are demanded for modern automotive systems. Within the last decade, improved and new deposition techniques were developed in PVD, PECVD, thermochemical heat treatment and thermal spraying. These new treatments are becoming more and more common in powertrain and engine applications. Generating optimized surfaces for different types of substrate materials (e.g. Al-alloys, case hardened steels, etc.) and geometries (e.g. bores) also impacts the running costs. Due to the new developments within these competing surface treatments, it becomes more and more common to substitute traditional treatment-substrate-systems with advanced treatments. Both the application potential and selected examples of different surface treatments will be shown. Aspects of the internal coating of bores inside the engine by plasma spraying, features of the corrosion protection of parts for the powertrain by the IONITOX process and piston ring treatments are discussed in more detail.