Testing scuffing resistance of materials for marine 2-stroke engines – Difficulties with lab scale testing of a complex phenomenon

•Experience from scuffing in marine 2-stroke engines is presented.•Scuffing resistance of grey iron and plasma sprayed cermet coating from lab test.•Ranking of materials is reversed by changing the surface preparations.•Critical mechanisms of test discussed and compared with engine experience.

Optimising sliding materials of marine two-stroke diesel engine cylinders for reduced risk of scuffing is imperative because of the high costs associated with replacing the cylinder liner. But how can a complex and poorly understood phenomenon such as scuffing be tested? This study investigates the potential of material selection based on lab tests. Experience from ship operation is combined with analysis of lab scale scuffing tests to evaluate the possibilities of gaining applicable knowledge from scuffing testing. Two piston ring materials, a grey cast iron and a plasma sprayed cermet coating, both currently used in engines, were tested. Each of the materials was tested with two surface characters, achieved by run-in in a real engine and by fine grinding respectively. The ranking of the two materials proved to differ between the two surface characters. In the tests, scuffing could only be detected when all oil had become removed from the contact by being adsorbed by agglomerated wear debris and scraped away. This and other critical mechanisms behind scuffing in the tests are thoroughly discussed and compared to possible mechanisms taking place in the engine.