This process helps cut carbon emissions in half when compared with getting a new engine for replacing the old one while still resulting in an engine block looking new.
The goal here is to improve on the performance of a vehicle by increasing its lifespan and reducing the overall environmental footprint. It also manages to tie in with a lot of other research that Ford is carrying out including adding soy fibers in cloth and foam and vegetable fibers in plastics.
The Process
The process had been developed originally for performance enhancement of an engine. There is something called the PTWA (Plasma Transferred Wired Arc) which is basically a thermal spray process that applies a coat on the engine block which helps it return to its original condition. It also removes any need to add more, heavy parts.
PTWA basically works by creating paint from the metallic materials. First, a wire feedstock gets fed into a cathode which is highly charged. This leads to the atomization of the feedstock which then gets sprayed on to the surface with the help of forced gas.
This high kinetic energy among the particles means they will flatten when impacted with the target's surface. They will then harden very quickly. This results into not only depositing an even amount of material all over the surface, but also in leveling the surface by filling in all of the pits and gouges naturally. Incredible!
If only washing your car was this high tech!
During most of the PTWA processes, a number of different materials are going to be used for building the multi-layer coatings. When this is witnessed by someone first hand, the entire process of plasma coating looks quite similar to what we would call spray painting, but it also has a bright light from where paint comes out.
You thought powder coating was fancy or cool!
The History
This process of plasma coating on its own isn't actually new. It has been a very important ingredient in the production of aluminum engine blocks which can withstand continuous pressure without any cast iron sleeves inside its cylinder bores.
As far as the automotive manufacturing process is concerned, PTWA has managed to become quite a common element indeed. Some high end vehicles like the Nissan GTR and the Shelby Mustang GT500 use plasma coatings for improving friction between surfaces. They also use it for reducing the weight of the vehicle by adding additional strength to these parts which are made from lightweight materials.
As far as remanufacturing is concerned, the first time plasma coatings were used was when Caterpillar as well as a number of other companies from the realm of diesel engines used it for refurbishing high use or high mileage engine blocks which would have been extremely expensive for them to replace. PTWA is a process which can be used for aluminum, cast iron or almost any other alloy or metal as well.
The goal for Ford here is to take high-mileage, worn engines, and then make use of plasma coatings for refurbishing and repairing engine blocks and especially their cylinders. They consider this to be the first step as far as creating engines that are like new and can be used again. This is the ultimate recycling idea!
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