CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF CLINDERR HEAD

APPLICATION
The Cylinder Head of an internal combustion engine is a solid block that rests on the main
body(encompassin the piston).The Function of the cylinder head is to provide for a passage to
the charge i.e the intake and exhust valve ports and valve seats and the exhaust gases as well
as to provide a closed surrounding for the combustion cycle to take place.

SERVICE CONDITIONS
Cylinder heads while in operation are subjected to very high pressures.Contolled explosion of
fuel takes place inside the chamber.Hence these are subjected to tmperature stresses.

REQUIRED PROPERTIES
While slecting a material for clynder head maufacture the following properties have to be
verified:
  Resistance to mechanical shocks.

 Thermal conductivity

MATERIAL CHOICES
Aluminum and cast iron alloys are used as cylinderhead materials because of the excellent
casting properties.
Because of the mechanical and thermal requirementsAl-Si-alloys and increasingly cast irons
with vermicular graphite (GJV) are used for this engine component. High thermal conductivity,
low thermal expansion and high tension/compression strength leadto a good thermal
behaviour. Cast irons are used in heavy goods vehicles because of the higher requirements in
the strength. For light weight construction requirements Al-Si-alloys are taken by the
automotive engineer, even though these alloys are more expensive.

PROCESSING CHOICES
Cylinder heads are relatively large in size and the molds used for casting them feature
complicated core shapes. Traditionally, cylinder heads and similarly complicated castings have
been produced by manufacturing wooden patterns that model the shape of the required
product, creating sandmolds which are the inverse of the wooden patterns, combining these to
form a casting cavity, and finally pouring aluminum or some other molten metal into this cavity
to produce the required casting. Creation of wooden patterns in this process requires a
considerable amount of time as it involves time-consuming jobs such as designing casting plans
and making wooden pattern manufacturing data. In recent years, machinery manufacturers
have market- released a wide variety of rapid prototyping machines which use three-
dimensional, computer-aided design data in the creation of the models, and these machines
are being put to use in the field of electrical appliances to make resin case prototypes and, in
the field of automobiles, to create models of small resin components in order that development
periods may be shortened.
Further the port cavity has to be made by the use of a special Porting tool.The surface finish is
generally done by machines as the valves require a very minute clearance.

Porting and grinding CNC

COST AND AVAILABILITY
Cast iron is easier to obtain from pig iron.Also the main ore being ferritic compounds are
readily available near the earths crust.Hence cast iron is relatively cheaper than majority
materials.Aluminium on the other hand requires costly extraction process and its ore bauxite is
difficult to mine.Hence out of the two Cast iron is readily available and cheaper too.

FINAL SELECTION
Cast iron cylinder heads offer the benefit of being inexpensive, durable. Cast iron heads
are also heavy, less forgiving of high compression ratios, and more expensive to port.

Aluminum cylinder heads have the advantage of being lightweight (generally 50% or less of
the weight of a comparable iron head), repairable, easier (which translates to “cheaper”) to
port, and more forgiving of high compression ratios. Disadvantages to aluminum heads
include cost (compared to iron heads), the need to pay close attention to proper fastener
tightening procedures to avoid thread damage, and issues of valve lash and other
adjustments that may be effected by the fact that aluminum expands quite a bit more than
iron when your engine reaches its normal operating temperature.

Which is the best to use depends largely on your application, and which properties of the
two materials best suit your needs.