Cylindrical internal surface with thermally spray coating

Abstract

A thermally sprayed coating is deposited onto a cylindrical internal surface of a base member after a rough surface has been formed on the cylindrical internal surface. The tapered surface is configured such that the internal diameter of the axial end portion is larger than the internal diameter of the remaining portions of the cylinder bore internal surface. After the tapered surface is formed, the thermally sprayed coating is honed. This method prevents exfoliation of a thermally sprayed coating at an end portion of a cylindrical internal surface in a situation where honing or another mechanical finishing process is applied to the thermally sprayed coating after the coating is formed on the cylindrical internal surface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a transverse cross sectional view of a cylinder block having a cylinder bore with a thermally sprayed coating formed on its cylindrical internal surface in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of an end portion of the cylinder block shown in FIG. 1 that is closer to a crankcase;

FIG. 3 is a series of enlarged cross sectional views of a portion of the cylindrical internal surface illustrating the processing applied to the cylinder bore of the cylinder block shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the cylinder block in which a roughening process is being applied to the cylindrical internal surface of the base material of the cylinder block shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5A is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the cylindrical internal surface illustrating how the base material surface roughening process shown in FIG. 4 is executed using a tool and the discharged cut waste material;

FIG. 5B is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the cylindrical internal surface illustrating a typical screw thread cutting process executed using a tool;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an entire thermal spraying apparatus for depositing a thermally sprayed coating onto the internal surface of the cylinder bore of the cylinder block shown in FIG. 1 after the cylinder bore internal surface has been roughened;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the cylindrical internal surface illustrating the adhesion between the thermally sprayed coating and the surface onto which the thermally sprayed coating is deposited;

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of the cylinder block shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the thermally sprayed coating being honed with a honing tool;

FIG. 9 is a work flow diagram illustrating the flow of processing steps from the base material surface roughening shown in diagram (c) of FIG. 3 to the finishing (honing) shown in diagram (f) of FIG. 3;

FIG. 10A is a schematic illustration of the manner in which a force acts against the thermally sprayed coating when the honing grindstones move upward, showing a case in which a tapered surface is provided on a bottom portion of the coating;

FIG. 10B is a schematic illustration of the manner in which a force acts against the thermally sprayed coating when the honing grindstones move upward, showing a case in which a tapered surface is not provided on a bottom portion of the coating;

FIG. 11 is a transverse cross sectional view of a cylinder block having a cylinder bore with a thermally sprayed coating formed on its cylindrical internal surface in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a graph illustrating how the internal diameter of the cylinder bore changes as one moves from the upper end to the lower end thereof after the thermally sprayed coating has been deposited.

Claims

1. A cylindrical internal surface processing method comprising: depositing a thermally sprayed coating onto an cylindrical internal surface of a base member;forming an internal diameter of the thermally spray coating on the cylindrical internal surface to be larger at an axial end portion of the cylindrical internal surface than at remaining portions of the cylindrical internal surface; andmachining the internal surface after the thermally sprayed coating has been deposited.

2. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 1, wherein the depositing of the thermally sprayed coating onto the cylindrical internal surface includes providing a cylinder block as the base member with a cylinder bore of the cylinder block including the cylindrical internal surface with the internal diameter of the thermally spray coating at the axial end portion of the cylinder bore having a larger internal diameter being closer to a crankcase end of the cylinder bore.

3. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 2, wherein the forming the internal diameter of the thermally spray coating with the larger internal diameter at the axial end portion of the cylindrical internal surface includes mechanically cutting the axial end portion of the cylinder bore after the thermally sprayed coating has been formed on the cylindrical internal surface of the cylinder bore.

4. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 3, wherein the mechanical cutting of the cylindrical internal surface of the cylinder bore at the axial end portion results in a low adhesion portion of the thermally sprayed coating being removed during the mechanical cutting.

5. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 4, wherein the mechanical cutting of the cylindrical internal surface of the cylinder bore at the axial end portion also results in a high adhesion portion of the thermally sprayed coating being removed during the mechanical cutting.

6. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 4, wherein the mechanical cutting of the cylindrical internal surface of the cylinder bore at the axial end portion also results in a portion of the base material of the cylinder bore being removed along the low adhesion portion that was removed.

7. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 4, wherein the mechanical cutting of the cylindrical internal surface of the cylinder bore at the axial end portion also results in the thermally sprayed coating being tapered.

8. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 2, wherein the forming the internal diameter of the thermally spray coating with the larger internal diameter at the axial end portion of the cylindrical internal surface includes making the thermally sprayed coating thinner at the axial end portion of the cylindrical internal surface than the remaining portions of the cylinder bore.

9. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 8, wherein the depositing of the thermally sprayed coating onto the cylindrical internal surface includes using a thermal spray gun to spray molten coating material in which the thermal spray gun is moved the thermal spray gun in an axial direction inside the cylinder bore while rotating the thermal spray gun to make the thermally sprayed coating thinner at the axial end portion of the cylinder bore that is closer to the crankcase than the remaining portions of the cylinder bore by spraying the molten coating material with a lower mass flow rate on the axial end portion than on the remaining of the cylinder bore.

10. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 8, wherein the depositing of the thermally sprayed coating onto the cylindrical internal surface includes using a thermal spray gun to spray molten coating material in which the thermal spray gun is moved the thermal spray gun in an axial direction inside the cylinder bore while rotating the thermal spray gun to make the thermally sprayed coating thinner at the axial end portion of the cylinder bore that is closer to the crankcase than the remaining portions of the cylinder bore by moving the thermal spray gun with a higher axial movement speed when spray coating the axial end portion than when spray coating the remaining portions of the cylinder bore.

11. The cylindrical internal surface processing method as recited in claim 8, wherein the depositing of the thermally sprayed coating onto the cylindrical internal surface includes using a thermal spray gun to spray molten coating material in which the thermal spray gun is moved the thermal spray gun in an axial direction inside the cylinder bore while rotating the thermal spray gun to make the thermally sprayed coating thinner at the axial end portion of the cylinder bore that is closer to the crankcase than the remaining portions of the cylinder bore by shifting a return point where the thermal spray gun stops moving toward the crankcase and starts moving toward a cylinder head progressively toward the cylinder head as the spray processing proceeds.

12. A base member comprising: a cylindrical internal surface; anda thermally sprayed coating deposited on the cylindrical internal surface with one axial end portion of the cylindrical internal surface being machined such that an internal diameter of the thermally spray coating is larger at the axial end portion of the base member than at remaining portions of the cylindrical internal surface.

13. The base member as recited in claim 12, wherein the base member is a cylinder block with a cylinder bore including the cylindrical internal surface, andthe thermally spray coating of the axial end portion is closer to a crankcase end of the cylinder bore.

14. The base member as recited in claim 13, wherein the axial end portion of the cylinder block has a cutout, formed after the thermally sprayed coating has been formed on the internal surface of the cylinder bore, to define a larger internal diameter of the thermally spray coating than at the remaining portions of the cylindrical internal surface.

15. The base member as recited in claim 14, wherein the thermally spray coating along the axial end portion of the cylinder block is thinner than the thermally spray coating along the remaining portions of the cylindrical internal surface.

16. The base member as recited in claim 13, wherein the thermally spray coating along the axial end portion of the cylinder block is thinner than the thermally spray coating along the remaining portions of the cylindrical internal surface.