Quality Control Study for Piston Rings Using Pareto

Analysis
Amit Bhumarker (  amitbhumarker2@gmail.com )
Annie Institute of Technology & Research Centre Chhindwara
Abhishek Singh
Annie Institute of Technology & Research Centre Chhindwara

Research Article

Keywords: piston rings, defects, cause and effect analysis, waste reduction, quality control

Posted Date: December 12th, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2356704/v1

License:   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Abstract
The manufacturing factor in the piston ring-shaped contact has drawn significant attention over the
years, as seen by the numerous papers that have been written about it recently. The current manifestation
conception addresses the requirements for a manufactured organization in order to create it successfully
and efficiently, and it's more along the lines of a protective category. Modern manufacturing is extremely
difficult, and it puts a firm's ability to provide in the shortest timeframe at the lowest possible cost without
compromising the quality of the product being manufactured to the test. Organizations should use their
resources to the greatest extent possible and reduce non-value-added tasks to the greatest extent
possible in order to operate efficiently. An organization must implement all necessary measures to
increase production capacity and decrease waste; as a result, critical factors like setup time, tool life,
machine breakdown time, etc. must be carefully studied and monitored in order to carry out improvement
actions and boost machine productivity. Tools for quality control are particularly helpful in identifying
and evaluating the critical elements affecting productivity. To increase the overall production of the
several piston ring manufacturing operations, a thorough investigation needed to be carried out. In
Nashik, Maharashtra, India, Perfect Circles India Limited has performed the comprehensive work.

Introduction
An IC engine's piston is attached to an open-ended piston ring that slides into a groove on the piston's
outer diameter. When it comes to automobile pistons, there are often three rings. The lowest ring is used
to control the flow of lubricating oil, while the first two rings are compression rings for compressing seals
(oil control ring). The manufacturing problems with the contacts created by the piston rings have received
a great deal of attention over the years, as seen by the enormous number of articles that have been
written about them recently. The purpose of this case study is to explore the issue of piston ring
manufacturing quality.

A Perfect Circle, which was founded in 1976 and has since gained recognition in the Indian automotive
sector, is a significant supplier of piston rings to both Indian and international original equipment
manufacturers and replacement markets. With Mahale, engine components, USA, a global leader in the
automotive sector, the business has a technical license. The firm makes production plates, a specific part
for fuel pumps and transmissions, as well as piston rings, a vital automotive component that is sold
under the global brand Label by Perfect Circle. The perfect circle (Anand Group) in India has received
certification from Bureau Veritas Quality International, UK, for TS 16949, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001
standards. The largest maker of piston rings, plates, and piston ring casting in India is Perfect Circles
India Limited. The production facilities, which are situated in Nasik in Maharashtra, are made up of a
casting facility, a plate plant, and a machining plant for piston rings. [1]

There are many procedures used to manufacture grey forged iron piston rings. Other ring makers cut the
individual ring from pots or cuffs, whereas grey iron piston rings are produced as a single, noncircular
ring [1].

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Steel piston rings are constructed from a profiled wire that is originally wound into a circular shape before
the gap is cut away. The required type is produced using a heat treatment procedure in which the rings
are positioned on an arbor in order to impart the desired radial pressure distribution [1].

Gases from the combustion chamber were intended to leak into the crankcase through the piston/wall
clearance; hence, piston rings were created to contain these gases. A single-piece copper ring with a
nominal diameter 10% bigger than the cylinder bore's diameter was used by Rams Bottom to build a
steam engine. When the ring was put into a piston groove, its inherent elasticity drove it up against the
cylinder bore. Miller changed the design such that the inner rim of the ring could be affected by the steam
pressure, increasing the sealing force [2].

Piston rings in engines are crucial because they protect the combustion chamber and reduce gas leaks
into the crankcase. This not only assists in optimizing the heat transmission from the pistons to the
cylinder wall but also helps in maintaining the necessary oil level, resulting in proper oil consumption and
emission controls. Achieving BS-VI emission regulations becomes critically dependent on the radial
thickness of such rings. The radial thickness of the rings under control in this inquiry must be kept within
the predetermined range of 2.9 +/- 0.15 0.1. A narrow tolerance value must be used throughout the
production process for the rings to perform as intended. The results of their investigation into the
waviness and straightness of piston rings have provided detailed information on the impact of
manufacturing defects [3]. An attempt has been made to reduce the rejection rate of piston rings using
Six Sigma, Cost of Poor Quality, FMEA, DOE, and other techniques [4].The requirements for the piston ring
as a dynamic seal for linear motion that functions under difficult temperature and chemical conditions
are detailed in Piston Ring Tribology, which is discussed [5]. Depending on the application, several piston
rings, including those that are chrome plated, plasma coated, plain, oil control, and scraper rings, are
utilized. Several wear-resistant Mo mixed coatings for piston ring applications have been presented [6].
When using a thermal spraying technique like plasma spraying, heated and melted materials are sprayed
onto a surface to create a coating. Plasma spraying is used to protect surfaces from wear, corrosion, and
erosion. Metals, alloys, ceramics, composites, and other materials are used to cover the surface. When
plasma is sprayed, a gas is heated to extremely high temperatures and injected through a nozzle-
equipped gun as a plasma jet. After being injected into the plasma jet, the mentioned coating material
melts and attaches itself to the surface it has coated [7].While thermal spraying uses a high spraying rate
and deposition, plasma spraying is frequently used to enhance the surface of piston rings. A significant
level of wear resistance is shown in the molybdenum coatings created by atmospheric plasma spraying
[8].According to friction measurements, hydrodynamic lubrication (HL) predominated throughout the
majority of the engine cycle. In 1936, they made the initial argument for the existence of hydrodynamic
lubrication between a piston ring and a cylinder liner [9].Introduce piston ring analysis to the theory of
hydrodynamic lubrication [10].The thickness of the oil coating and the ring's friction force were evaluated
on the assumption of a symmetric parabolic curve [11].Having a ring profile with a flat centre and two
circular arcs at the endpoints the proposed application of force on the piston ring in the radial direction is
thought to be made up of the pressure at the ring's inner side and the elastic pressure of the piston ring
[12].
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Quality control is defined as an effective method for integrating the standard development, quality
maintenance, and quality improvement activities of the various groups in an organization so as to modify
production and repair at the top economic level, allowing for maximum client satisfaction. Perfect Circle
India Limited in Nasik is the company finishing the dissertation. The casting facility, the piston ring
machining plant, and the plate machining plant for Perfect Circle India are all located in Nasik, which is in
the Indian state of Maharashtra. The company manufactures high-quality piston rings for a variety of
markets. The corporation is concentrating on quality improvement since severe errors and their causes
have become unpredictable in recent years. In the dissertation report, the cause-and-effect diagram is
recommended and realistically used.

Modern manufacturing ideas focus on the requirements for a manufacturing organization to

manufacture goods successfully and efficiently and are more pro-active in design. Modern
manufacturing is extremely difficult, and it puts to the test a company's ability to provide in the shortest
timeframe at the lowest cost without compromising the superiority of the product being produced. To
operate effectively, organizations must use their resources to the best capacity possible and minimize
any non-value-added operations. The important aspects, such as setup time, tool life, machine
breakdown time, etc., must be managed by an organization in order to improve production capacity while
also reducing waste. The essential elements impacting productivity may be found and chosen with the
use of quality control technologies. A thorough investigation was required to improve the overall
productivity of the various piston ring production processes.

In Nasik, Maharashtra, at Perfect Circles India Limited, the detailed work was completed. Through quality
control techniques, the major objective is to reduce the defect rate for a piston ring throughout all
production processes while enhancing productivity.

Quantitative tools and Total Quality Management (TQM) allow improved decision-making, better
problem-solving, and even better product quality and productivity. In order to examine the main reasons
for nonconformities, the fundamental causes of the quality issues, a Cause and Effect (C&E) Diagram
was developed through brainstorming sessions using SPC's Seven Magnificent Techniques, the most
well-liked quantitative tools.

Detailed Analysis And Proposal

Recently, investigations into the production process and equipment usage were conducted using QC
tools. Based on the collected data, calculations for monitoring and data collection were made, and
analysis was done to determine the key elements that contribute to a reduction in productivity. Factors
including production flaws, competitive consumer demand, and customer-demanded price reductions
have pushed the company to change its business strategy in order to provide high-quality goods at lower
costs and shorter lead times.

THE METHODOLOGY ADOPTED TO MEET THE OBJECTIVE

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 1. Studies on the production process will be published to examine the ongoing manufacturing losses at
every stage.
2. It is critical to thoroughly examine all types of flaws and their occurrences during the procedure.
3. According to Pareto analysis, evolution will be conducted for crucial parameters impacting
productivity.
4. Changes to improve productivity should be recommended to management, along with a cost-benefit
analysis.

Cause And Effect Diagram

The fishbone diagram is an analytical tool that allows you to look at effects and the reasons that produce
or contribute to those effects in an organized way. A cause-and-effect diagram is a way of identifying and
arranging the known or potential cause of quality or lack thereof. There are a variety of views on what
causes a problem when using a team approach to issue resolution. The cause-and-effect diagram is one
tool you may use to record these many suggestions and encourage your team to explore potential
fundamental causes. This diagram is one of the techniques that someone who is just getting started with
process improvement can easily use. The link between variables is depicted in the cause-and-effect
diagram. This figure is effective in group settings and when there is minimal quantitative data available
for analysis. The usage of cause-and-effect diagrams in research, production, marketing, office
management, and other areas is almost limitless. The involvement and input of everyone participating in
the brainstorming is one of its key advantages. To address the fundamental reasons and enhance the
process, solutions are created. Cost, practicality, resistance to change, effects, training, and other factors
will all be taken into consideration while evaluating alternative solutions. Testing and implementation
come next after the team has approved the solutions.

As ideas and innovations are made, the diagrams are modified. The diagrams can be used for examining
real-life situations in order to enhance the quality of a product or service, make more effective use of
resources, keep costs down, reduction of factors that lead to nonconforming services and products and
complaints from customers; standardization of the proposed and current operations.

Analyze The Cause And Effect Diagram (Fishbone Diagram)

Cause-and-effect charts Use a Pareto chart to minimize the list of possible reasons and help your team
identify which one to focus on first. Look at the "balance" of these diagrams, ensuring that many of the
subcategories have comparable amounts of detail.

Flow process chart for the plain ring

We shall attempt to analyze the proportion of plan ring rejection in percentage form in various
manufacturing processes with the guidance of this image.

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Acceptance Nos Plan Rings:
Manufacturing as many high-quality automotive manufacturing parts as possible has always been the
aim. There is usually a significant amount of pressure on this vendor because of the increasing demands
for specific manufacturing parts. To reduce this pressure, the industry always sets a deadline for
supplying components each month. However, we frequently fall short of the monthly production goals we
set for ourselves. Our goal is to produce 8.5 lakhs plain piston rings every month, and we shall
understand this goal using a graph.

Table No.1

Deficiency between the set target and the achieve target

Serial No Year Acceptance in lacks Deficiency

1 Jan-21 10.04 1.54

2 Feb-21 7.16 -1.34

3 March-21 5.81 -2.69

4 April-21 7.15 -1.35

5 May-21 8.97 0.47

6 June-21 8.07 -0.43

7 July-21 8.11 -0.39

8 Aug-21 8.25 -0.25

9 Sept-21 7.35 -1.15

10 Octo-21 7.09 -1.41

11 Nov-21 8.35 -0.15

12 Dec-21 9.48 0.98

Input-output Rejections In Plain Rings

Even though every manufacturing company aims to manufacture perfect, high-quality products, we rarely
achieve this while manufacturing parts. As a result, every industry sets the goal of producing as few
rejects as possible. According to this, Perfect Circle Company maintains a minimum rejection target
below 7% each month, although it has been shown that we really see more rejections than 7% on a
monthly basis.

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Table No 2

A table shown between set target of rejection and rejection during Process

Serial No Year Percentage of Rejection Deficiency

1 Jan-21 8.75 1.75

2 Feb-21 7.45 0.45

3 March-21 8.15 1.15

4 April-21 7.61 0.61

5 May-21 7.83 0.83

6 June-21 7.16 0.16

7 July-21 8.10 1.10

8 Aug-21 7.90 0.90

9 Sept-21 8.32 1.32

10 Octo-21 7.35 0.35

11 Nov-21 7.78 0.78

12 Dec-21 7.64 0.64

Total Number Of Rejected Ring During Manufacturing

We have combined all the data together to determine how many rejections there were for the plan piston
ring in each month.

Table No.3

Total number of rejected rings during manufacturing

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 Serial No. Year Acceptance in % Rejection Total no. of Rejected Rings

Lacks

1 Jan-21 10.04 8.75 87850

2 Feb-21 7.16 7.45 53342

3 March-21 5.81 8.15 47351

4 April-21 7.15 7.61 54411

5 May-21 8.97 7.83 70235

6 June-21 8.07 7.16 57297

7 July-21 8.11 8.10 65691

8 Aug-21 8.25 7.90 65175

9 Sept-21 7.35 8.32 61152

10 Octo-21 7.09 7.35 52111

11 Nov-21 8.35 7.78 64963

12 Dec-21 9.48 7.64 72427

Total no. of Average rejected rings 62667

Various Manufacturing Processes In Piston Ring (Plain Rings)

Each corporation must go through a number of steps in the production of a product, some of which go to
the starting stage and others to the final stage. Every procedure has a percentage of parts that are
rejected. The several processes in piston rings are described below and determined via Pareto analysis
and a flow chart for the plain ring shown above.

Table No.4

Percentage loss in various manufacturing processes in plain Rings

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 Serial No. Process Loss in Percentage (Approx) No. of piston rings

Rejected

1 Grinding 22% 13787

2 CTB

(a) Turning 10% 6267

(b) Cutting 13% 8147

(c) Boring 15% 9400

3 Finish Turn 7% 4387

4 Sizing 12% 7520

5 Chamfering 11% 6893

6 Visual Inspection 5% 3133

7 Missing ring 2% 1253

8 Laser marking 3% 1880

Results
The fundamental fishbone diagram's concept is expanded upon and improved upon by the cause
mapping methodology. Finding the best options to enhance the output and quality of the piston rings is
the aim of research. Using the Ishikawa diagram and Pareto analysis, Perfect Circle India Limited aims to
increase productivity and quality by around 10% overall.

Conclusion
Methods using cause-and-effect diagrams are crucial to determining product or service quality as well as
how to monitor and improve it. In order to achieve the best configuration for control variables in a
manufacturing process, experimental design is required. Fishbone diagrams are helpful tools that may be
used in combination with engineering, management, and other disciplines to achieve quality, which must
be developed into products and services in order to gain a competitive advantage and increase
profitability.

Declarations
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research work supported by perfact circle india private limited (ANAND I-Power Limited) at Nashik,
Maharastra in India. Anand I-power Limited's Corporate Identification Number is (CIN)
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U99999MH1962PLC012316 and its registration number is 12316.

References
1. www.perfectcircleindia.com
2. P. Andersson, J. Tamminen and C.E. Sandström. “Piston ring tribology: A literature survey”, VTT
Research Notes 2178, Espoo, Finland, 2002.
3. A. Zavos and P. G. Nikolakopoulos, “Waviness and straightness of cylinder and textured piston ring
tribo pair,” Int. J. Struct. Integr., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 300–324, 2015, doi: 10.1108/IJSI-07-2013-0014.
4. S. Suresh, A. L. Moe, and A. B. Abu, “Defects Reduction in Manufacturing of Automobile Piston Ring
Using Six Sigma,” J. Ind. Intell. Inf., vol. 3, no. 1, 2014, doi: 10.12720/jiii.3.1.32-38.
5. J. Tamminen and C. S. Espoo, Piston Ring Tribology – A Literature Survey, Espoo Findland: VTT,
2002, Research Notes 2178, ch. 2, pp. 9-14.
6. J. Ahn, B. Hwang, and S. Lee, “Improvement of wear resistance of plasma-sprayed molybdenum
blend coatings,” Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 251-257, June 2005.
7. P. L. Fauchais, J. V. R. Heberlein, and M. I. Boulos, Industrial Applications of Thermal Spraying
Technology in Thermal Spray Fundamentals, US: Springer, 2014, ch. 7, pp. 383-477.
8. P. D. Patel, R. N. Patel, H. C. Patel, and P. M. Patel, “Experimental investigation on life cycle analysis of
molyCoated piston ring in C I engine,” in Proc. International Conference on Advances in Tribology and
Engineering Systems, ICATES, Part IV, 2013, pp. 321-329
9. Hawkes, C. J. and Hardy, G. F., “The Friction of Piston Rings,” Trans. N.E. Coast Inst. Engrs. And
Shipbuilders, Vol. 52, pp. 143 (1936).
10. Castleman, R. A., “A Hydrodynamic Theory of Piston Lubrication,” Physical Review, Vol. 7, pp. 364-
367 (1936).
11. Eilon, S. and Saunders, O. A., “A Study of Piston Ring Lubrication,” Proc. Instn. Mech. Engrs., Vol. 171,
pp. 427-433 (1957).
12. Furunama, S., “A Dynamic Theory of Piston Ring Lubrication,” Bulletin of the JSME, first report-
calculation, Vol. 2, pp. 423-428 (1959). Second report-experiment, Vol. 3, pp. 291-297 (1960). Third
report-measurement of oil film thickness, Vol. 4, pp. 744- 752 (1961)

Graph
Graph 1 to 4 are available in the Supplementary Files section.

Figures

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Figure 1

piston rings (perfect circle India limited)

Figure 2

Fishbone Diagram

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Figure 3

Flow process chart for the plain ring (Perfect circle India Ltd)

Supplementary Files
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.

Graph1.png
Graph2.png
Graph3.png
Graph4.png

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