Informational - Science / History Behind In Situ DLC Coatings for ICE and Transmission / Gearbox Applications

[Lion77]

Nanotechnology Repairs Engine Damage in Cars - Tech Briefs

Consider the sources of all these publications. These are not just some random internet bloggers or local hot rod shops. These are very well published and respected sources (in addition to the volumes of information on the actual development testing).

At the very least, it should eradicate any question about its legitimacy. The big question is, does it provide any meaningful benefit and at its price point? That's ultimately the big question, just like the Ford Performance Pro Cal upgrade for the 2024 RR's (risk vs. reward).

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[Lion77]

NASA Spinoff 2020 Brochure

How about this one? An actual technology transfer brochure from NASA, 2020. Under the section for Consumer Goods, #24.

 

[Lion77]

2021_SS_FINAL_TEXT.pdf

Page 61. Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

 

[Lion77]

Here's one for the books:

The actual address: "https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/5-auto-innovations-driven-by-nasa/"

The active link: 5 Auto Innovations Driven by NASA - NASA

DIRECTLY FROM NASA.GOV. Any detractors still want to debate the legitimacy of this technology?

Now that we are FINALLY past the point of ignorance, each person must weigh the cost / reward benefit. Some may only want to use it in engine applications, some may want to try it in transmission / gearbox applications, some may do the entire powertrain like me (engine, transfer case, front and rear diff, transmission).

Some may want to try it on older cars with a lot of wear first...lots of possibilities. My ONLY goal has been to educate on this technology because it's a complex subject that is mostly a "black box" for the majority of enthusiasts. Lubrication technology was a "black box" for me for decades and everything seemed to be based on anecdotal accounts and here say. This was one technology that was very well tested, documented and sourced. It does what it claims but be realistic about expectations.

It's not going to make as big of a perceptible difference as say a Pro Cal ECU flash. But it will reduce wear, help control temps during extreme operating conditions (depending on where the heat is coming from, if its friction related, or shear related), provides a greater load bearing capacity of fluid films on bearing surfaces, can provide a modest bump in RWP / RWTQ and can slightly increase fuel economy (again highly dependent on where the losses are coming from, driving, weather etc.).

I am of the opinion that the biggest real world benefit is not one noticeable by the seat of your pants. It's long term reliability and consistency of performance day to day, as the miles pile on. Your not going to KNOW it's providing that benefit until you get say 120k or 200k or 300k miles and the vehicle is still operating like-new, consistently.

The best way to try something new is to:

1. understand what you're doing, how it works or should work and why you want to do it as much as possible beforehand (i.e., what is the problem, research a solution, develop a theory of operation of the solution and then a theory of application of the solution)

2. test it to see how it actually works in the real world, what are its real benefits, what are its limitations and drawbacks?

3. decide if it's worth continuing the effort or not after testing.

If you give it a try, please do post your experiences, good or bad.

 

[Lion77]

Here are some of my working theories I had when using in the 2016 Mustang GT with Stage 2 Power Pack + TriboTEX (at the time, only the engine and automatic formulas were available, so I did not use it in my Getrag manual which would have benefited as that transmission had issues with syncros):

1. Controlling oil vaporization - we know for a fact DLC films do reduce oil consumption. This is measurable in a before - after testing and it's a widely seen benefit, especially on older cars. It also restores lost compression by promoting ring / cylinder wall seal, again tested and verified with compression tests on individual cylinders in test cars before and after, including tear downs with microscope images of the rings at 15k miles (posted earlier in the thread).

If the rings are sealing better (and with lower friction) and there's less oil being burned up in the combustion chamber, there's less fuel dilution and timing should be more consistent and as close to the maximum on a given day (factoring in what the ECU will safely allow with air temp, humidity, fuel octane, load and altitude.).

So, you should make more consistent power vs. some conditions like tracking a V8 GT which sees extreme heat loading and high oil vaporization (some cars go through a quart of oil in 1 day).

On the Mustang forum, we KNEW for sure oil vaporization caused the ECU to pull timing because it effectively increases fuel volatility (i.e., lowers effective octane rating). Those events have been data logged.

So, catch cans were a common aid to help reduce that. But they aren't 100% as some oil does get past the rings (not vaporized but simply isn't removed as the piston travels down). That oil is burned up in the combustion chamber and ends up as suite at the tail pipe, it poisons catalysts and fouls plugs / valves (vaporized oil fouls a lot less as it's a very small amount relative to what gets past the control rings).

Since TriboTEX reduces oil consumption and does help with ring seal, it's clearly helping the rings control oil and also possibly reducing vaporization by lowering friction losses, so it should help the engine make more consistent power, especially under extreme thermal loads like tracking a car / truck or even towing.

Now tell me that one benefit is not worth it alone. Even if there were no other benefits? $100 for an application that lasts about 30k-40k (depending on engine, use etc.). To me, it's worth it for that alone, but there are many other small benefits working together that in my own experience and with my existing knowledge justify it.

How about the post on this forum about transmission oil temps? Most of the fluid temp rise is coming from shear of the oil in the torque converter, but some small amount is from friction on the gear faces that operate in boundary layer or mixed mode lubrication regimes instead of completely in hydrodynamic.

TriboTEX DLC films form on the gear tooth faces and MAY alleviate that a small amount, maybe enough to keep it just inside the safe operating range under even the most extreme use cases. It also forms on the pump gears / bearings and helps enhance oil adhesion, which provides the necessary pressure to operate shift solenoids and aply force to the pressure plates of the torque locks. So theoretically it can extend the service life as torque locks can fail (slip) for primarily three reasons:

#1 exceeding the input torque rating or most commonly

#2 wear in the oil pump or blockage (or both) of the passageways via sludging from oil breakdown that both reduce pump pressure and thus clamping forces available to the torque locks. The torque locks begin to slip due to inadequate pressure and then become glazed, further exacerbating the problem and their final demise.

#3 wear and tear over time. Friction plates do wear, but with properly functioning oil pumps and regular fluid changes, are usual good for the entire life of the car for typical use cases.

In racing, just like with the Miss Madison Jet Boat reduction gearbox, that's the difference between winning a race and loosing with a failure or sub-optimal performance.

What about the fact that in enhances film strength under load? As oil heats up, it thins out and the film thickness decreases between bearing surfaces.

If the oil wedge thickness becomes too thin in rod bearings, you will get metal on metal, which causes damage to the surface and more heating which can lead to failure.

Even a small enhancement in load bearing capacity of the bearings under extreme operating conditions can be the difference between a failed bearing and a functional one.

Take a look at subs tech if you want to study rod bearing design, there's a lot of great information on the importance of maintaining a robust hydrodynamic wedge for reliable operation:

Lubrication regimes [SubsTech]

Mechanisms of wear [SubsTech]

Understand how these systems work, understand how DLC films work, and you can see their real-world benefits. Take it or leave it.

I think TriboTEX + Pro Cal is the perfect combination of reliability and performance, so those are the only two things I will do to my RR in terms of "power adders". Everything else is maintenance and just enjoying the truck for a wide variety of applications I use it for, from performance off-roading to a family hauler on long trips to working our side business etc.

 

[Lion77]

P.S., my posts are excessively long, overly detailed and annoy the living crap out of some. If you don't like it, don't' read it, but at least I make the effort to thoroughly explain my reasoning. This particular subject is very complex, so there's a lot of explanation needed as well as documentation to support it. Hope this helps some make informed choices and I'll close with that.

 

[Lion77]

Another fun one from the DoD maintenance symposium:

By the end of this thread, you should have MORE confidence in DLC coatings than you do in your "black box" motor oil formulation!

Notice the footnote? SAE.ORG/DOD...how much information does a person want? I think that just about covers all of the source information I have at this time.

If anyone is questioning the legitimacy and reality of this technology...I'm questioning their sanity...the big question on an individual basis is, does it benefit you?

That's up to you to decide, but I will continue to use it given what I know and my experiences using it since 2019. I just passed the 500-mile wear-in mark on my Raptors 3.0L and did the entire powertrain yesterday so now wearing in that.

 

[Just sum guy]

Thanks for the posts and your incredible amount of research. Although I haven't read all your attached docs yet, I certainly will as I'm curious about uses in higher temp and speed such as turbine engines. Hoping some of that may be addressed in your supporting docs and studies as the implications are far reaching. As I see it, seems to be a no-brainer for my RR.

 

[Lion77]

I just finished wearing it into the 3.0L. Currently the entire powertrain is wearing in (about 200 miles left) as I did them at different times due to the weather. Please do post your feedback and personal experiences if you decided to go this route.

I think it's one of those things where the very substantiative amount testing, the sources of that testing / validation, the entities recognizing it and user feedback will help people make an informed choice with confidence.

When you know something works, you advocate for it. That's always the case among hobbyists or anyone passionate about a particular field of expertise. I am no different, but this is a complicated subject so that is the driver behind the "why bother with all this effort?".

I'm passionate about technology, particularly firearms and automotive tech, and anyone buying a Raptor is obviously passionate about automotive tech! But for many, lubricants technology is more or less a "black box" they don't really understand in any depth as to "how" it works, the nuances of wear, failure modes and how additives actually work etc., and I was in that category myself for years until I started studying the field of Tribology to gain a better understanding.

My field of expertise is electrical, but any engineer worth his salt can learn other fields. It's more a mindset and way of thinking than just the knowledge alone. So, I studied just like did in college.

For years I had experienced the effects of wear and tear on cars in many facets like everyone else (tires wearing out, suspension joints, paint damage and worst obviously is internal components wear like compression loss resulting in lower power, less fuel economy and higher oil consumption etc.).

For most home mechanics / hobbyists, brakes, oil changes and the like aren't too terrible to do. But doing major internal repairs is not easy without the proper equipment and knowledge, many don't have the time, then your forced to pay someone else and hope they care about their job…I'd rather try to avoid it all together and In Situ DLC coatings are a very powerful tool to help achieve that goal (among other benefits)!

 

[Lion77]

Above is an image of a Ford 3.0L positive displacement oil pump as an example (not 3.0L Ecoboost). It's of a g-rotor design. Consider how over time the pump gears wear and lose their ability to "squish" oil out as they lose volume (due to wear), hence the namesake as positive displacement, since fluids are incompressible, the gears force fluid to flow by displacing them.

As DLC coatings form on the gear faces and sides of the rotors, they build up a film to restore worn away metal by "resurfacing" kind of like building up polish on a metal surface or plating a surface (bonding).

Because of the lattice structure, the DLC film helps with fluid retention and adhesion to the surface of the film during operation where there is sufficient velocity differential between rubbing pairs to support a hydrodynamic fluid wedge. As the DLC film forms, and the capping process of the film at its final stages of formation creates a super lubricious and wear resistance surface that is carbon rich, yielding multiple benefits simultaneously.

Since the In Situ DLC film forms on BOTH faces of the rubbing pairs (bearing surfaces), the steel or iron substrate sees little additional wear as the film becomes the primary wear surface.

1. Promotes oil adhesion for better film strength on the contact surfaces.

2. Builds up a film over areas of high wear (areas most subject to heat and pressure) that can replace some of the lost steel substrate, up to 40 microns or 0.0016 in.

3. Most of the continuing wear is now on the film which will over time wear down like any other DLC film, but since it is In Situ, it is replicable without disassembly, which is incredibly advantageous!

4. The synthetic magnesium silicon hydroxide (MSH) film achieves a friction coefficient of about 0.01 or less, achieving super lubricity which is where you gain in hp / tq comes from, by reducing friction losses which are parasitic to ICE and gearbox function.

In the case of the oil pump, especially in older vehicles with high pump wear, it can help restore oil pressure and extend service life of the pump which is absolutely critical for engine function. It also reduces friction losses in the pump assembly itself, so the oiling system operates more efficiently.

It was designed specifically to work with existing oil additive packages now common in motor oils like ZDDP and MoDTC (an organic moly compound that was developed by Infineon in 2009 to help address wear issues with motor oils on factory applied DLC coatings as earlier oil specs were developed prior to the common use of DLC coatings on parts).

That is just one example. On a newer vehicle, you don't have any wear or enough wear to matter. However, there is still friction losses, so there are benefits in efficiency, durability (by reducing wear rates and preserving like-new function) and robustness of operation as the enhancement of film strength is still gained.

 

[Lion77]

The difference in COF (coefficient of friction) and two, the difference in load before welding. 350n vs. 500n of force or 42.8% increase in load bearing capacity. Taken from Tribology International 110 (2017) 35-40. This is exactly what was also observed in the US Army's Weveden hypoid gear mesh efficiency test and WHY it's very useful not just in engine applications, but gearboxes particularly. Pretty cool technology.

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