{"id":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","oai_identifier":"tle:435ead26-0b28-4a38-ab28-40a81c162853:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/oxford-brookes/tle:435ead26-0b28-4a38-ab28-40a81c162853:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1","repository":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","name":"Oxford Brookes University","base_url":"https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/oai"},"display":{"title":"Characterisation of a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and piston design for internal combustion engines","abstract":"The ever growing concerns over toxic engine emissions, sustainability and global warming put the automotive industry under immense pressure to reduce pollution and improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines. The lighter the mass of a vehicle the lower the energy required to propel it and potentially the lower the emissions that will ensue. Also, reducing piston mass affects piston and ring assembly frictional losses and therefore engine efficiency. This trend in the automotive industry motivates desire for new lighter materials such as the nanostructured aluminium alloy used in this research. The aim of this research was to characterise a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and use heat treatment to optimise its mechanical properties for application as a lightweight engine piston material. The hardness of the new alloy at T6 was 35% higher than that corresponding to Al-2618 that is used for the test engine piston in this project. The high temperature tensile tests carried out at piston operating temperature showed that the new alloy had 1.09–1.82 times higher strengths than that of Al-2618 depending on the test temperature. In addition, the new alloy also had higher strengths than other aluminium alloys used in piston applications. The design approach used in this work was to reduce piston mass using topology optimisation without affecting the external envelope and the shape of the combustion chamber. The new piston’s mass was 218.35 grams which was 16.38% lighter than the original piston with mass of 261.13 grams. The final machined piston turned out to be slightly heavier than the final optimised piston design. This was due to the coating and also some modifications needed to make the design machinable. However, the final machined piston was still 13.5% lighter than the original piston. The new piston was more fuel efficient than the original piston at higher speeds and lower torques. At a speed of 3000 rpm, the new piston was on average 2.04% more fuel efficient at all torques values. Overall, the new piston had higher volumetric efficiency compared to the original piston, but at higher engine speed of 6000 rpm and higher torque the new piston had lower volumetric efficiency. To ultimately determine whether the new lightweight piston would generate any sizeable difference in engine performance and/or efficiency across the wider engine running envelope, further work is needed.","abstract_html":"The ever growing concerns over toxic engine emissions, sustainability and global warming put the automotive industry under immense pressure to reduce pollution and improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines. The lighter the mass of a vehicle the lower the energy required to propel it and potentially the lower the emissions that will ensue. Also, reducing piston mass affects piston and ring assembly frictional losses and therefore engine efficiency. This trend in the automotive industry motivates desire for new lighter materials such as the nanostructured aluminium alloy used in this research. The aim of this research was to characterise a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and use heat treatment to optimise its mechanical properties for application as a lightweight engine piston material. The hardness of the new alloy at T6 was 35% higher than that corresponding to Al-2618 that is used for the test engine piston in this project. The high temperature tensile tests carried out at piston operating temperature showed that the new alloy had 1.09–1.82 times higher strengths than that of Al-2618 depending on the test temperature. In addition, the new alloy also had higher strengths than other aluminium alloys used in piston applications. The design approach used in this work was to reduce piston mass using topology optimisation without affecting the external envelope and the shape of the combustion chamber. The new piston’s mass was 218.35 grams which was 16.38% lighter than the original piston with mass of 261.13 grams. The final machined piston turned out to be slightly heavier than the final optimised piston design. This was due to the coating and also some modifications needed to make the design machinable. However, the final machined piston was still 13.5% lighter than the original piston. The new piston was more fuel efficient than the original piston at higher speeds and lower torques. At a speed of 3000 rpm, the new piston was on average 2.04% more fuel efficient at all torques values. Overall, the new piston had higher volumetric efficiency compared to the original piston, but at higher engine speed of 6000 rpm and higher torque the new piston had lower volumetric efficiency. To ultimately determine whether the new lightweight piston would generate any sizeable difference in engine performance and/or efficiency across the wider engine running envelope, further work is needed.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Adil, Habibullah"],"institution":"Oxford Brookes University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Gerguri, Shpend","Durodola, John","Audebert, Fernando","Bonatesta, Fabrizio"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:41:58Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["All rights reserved"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.24384/yyzh-hy40","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Adil, Habibullah","Gerguri, Shpend","Durodola, John","Audebert, Fernando","Bonatesta, Fabrizio"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Adil, Habibullah"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Oxford Brookes University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.24384/yyzh-hy40","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/435ead26-0b28-4a38-ab28-40a81c162853/1/Adil2023PistonDesign.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The ever growing concerns over toxic engine emissions, sustainability and global warming put the automotive industry under immense pressure to reduce pollution and improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines. The lighter the mass of a vehicle the lower the energy required to propel it and potentially the lower the emissions that will ensue. Also, reducing piston mass affects piston and ring assembly frictional losses and therefore engine efficiency. This trend in the automotive industry motivates desire for new lighter materials such as the nanostructured aluminium alloy used in this research. The aim of this research was to characterise a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and use heat treatment to optimise its mechanical properties for application as a lightweight engine piston material. The hardness of the new alloy at T6 was 35% higher than that corresponding to Al-2618 that is used for the test engine piston in this project. The high temperature tensile tests carried out at piston operating temperature showed that the new alloy had 1.09–1.82 times higher strengths than that of Al-2618 depending on the test temperature. In addition, the new alloy also had higher strengths than other aluminium alloys used in piston applications. The design approach used in this work was to reduce piston mass using topology optimisation without affecting the external envelope and the shape of the combustion chamber. The new piston’s mass was 218.35 grams which was 16.38% lighter than the original piston with mass of 261.13 grams. The final machined piston turned out to be slightly heavier than the final optimised piston design. This was due to the coating and also some modifications needed to make the design machinable. However, the final machined piston was still 13.5% lighter than the original piston. The new piston was more fuel efficient than the original piston at higher speeds and lower torques. At a speed of 3000 rpm, the new piston was on average 2.04% more fuel efficient at all torques values. Overall, the new piston had higher volumetric efficiency compared to the original piston, but at higher engine speed of 6000 rpm and higher torque the new piston had lower volumetric efficiency. To ultimately determine whether the new lightweight piston would generate any sizeable difference in engine performance and/or efficiency across the wider engine running envelope, further work is needed."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Characterisation of a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and piston design for internal combustion engines"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Adil, Habibullah","Gerguri, Shpend","Durodola, John","Audebert, Fernando","Bonatesta, Fabrizio"],"dc:creator":["Adil, Habibullah"],"dc:date":["2023"],"dc:description":["The ever growing concerns over toxic engine emissions, sustainability and global warming put the automotive industry under immense pressure to reduce pollution and improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines. The lighter the mass of a vehicle the lower the energy required to propel it and potentially the lower the emissions that will ensue. Also, reducing piston mass affects piston and ring assembly frictional losses and therefore engine efficiency. This trend in the automotive industry motivates desire for new lighter materials such as the nanostructured aluminium alloy used in this research. The aim of this research was to characterise a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and use heat treatment to optimise its mechanical properties for application as a lightweight engine piston material. The hardness of the new alloy at T6 was 35% higher than that corresponding to Al-2618 that is used for the test engine piston in this project. The high temperature tensile tests carried out at piston operating temperature showed that the new alloy had 1.09–1.82 times higher strengths than that of Al-2618 depending on the test temperature. In addition, the new alloy also had higher strengths than other aluminium alloys used in piston applications. The design approach used in this work was to reduce piston mass using topology optimisation without affecting the external envelope and the shape of the combustion chamber. The new piston’s mass was 218.35 grams which was 16.38% lighter than the original piston with mass of 261.13 grams. The final machined piston turned out to be slightly heavier than the final optimised piston design. This was due to the coating and also some modifications needed to make the design machinable. However, the final machined piston was still 13.5% lighter than the original piston. The new piston was more fuel efficient than the original piston at higher speeds and lower torques. At a speed of 3000 rpm, the new piston was on average 2.04% more fuel efficient at all torques values. Overall, the new piston had higher volumetric efficiency compared to the original piston, but at higher engine speed of 6000 rpm and higher torque the new piston had lower volumetric efficiency. To ultimately determine whether the new lightweight piston would generate any sizeable difference in engine performance and/or efficiency across the wider engine running envelope, further work is needed."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.24384/yyzh-hy40","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/435ead26-0b28-4a38-ab28-40a81c162853/1/Adil2023PistonDesign.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Oxford Brookes University"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved"],"dc:title":["Characterisation of a new nanostructured aluminium alloy and piston design for internal combustion engines"],"dc:type":["thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:41:58Z"}