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Soot in the Lubricating Oil: An Overlooked Concern for the Gasoline Direct Injection Engine?

Pfau, Sebastian A.; La Rocca, Antonino; Haffner-Staton, Ephraim; Rance, Graham A.; Fay, Michael W.; McGhee, Michael

Soot in the Lubricating Oil: An Overlooked Concern for the Gasoline Direct Injection Engine? Thumbnail


Authors

Sebastian A. Pfau

ANTONINO LA ROCCA ANTONINO.LAROCCA@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Applied Thermofluids and Propulsion Systems

Ephraim Haffner-Staton

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GRAHAM RANCE Graham.Rance@nottingham.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellow

Michael McGhee



Abstract

Formation of soot is a known phenomenon for diesel engines, however, only recently emerged for gasoline engines with the introduction of direct injection systems. Soot-in-oil samples from a three-cylinder turbo-charged gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine have been analysed. The samples were collected from the oil sump after periods of use in predominantly urban driving conditions with start-stop mode activated. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed to measure the soot content in the drained oils. Soot deposition rates were similar to previously reported rates for diesel engines, i.e. 1 wt% per 15,000 km, thus indicating a similar importance. Morphology was assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Images showed fractal agglomerates comprising multiple primary particles with characteristic core-shell nanostructure. Furthermore, large amorphous structures were observed. Primary particle sizes ranged from 12 to 55 nm, with a mean diameter of 30 nm and mode at 31 nm. Particle agglomerates were measured by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The agglomerates were found to range between 42 and 475 nm, with a mean size of 132 nm and mode at 100 nm. The distribution was shifted towards larger sizes with a minor concentration of very large agglomerates observed around 382 nm. While deposition rate and agglomerate morphology were similar to diesel engines, distinctive amorphous carbon and smaller particles were observed. Hence, existing knowledge for diesel applications might not be directly transferrable.

Citation

Pfau, S. A., La Rocca, A., Haffner-Staton, E., Rance, G. A., Fay, M. W., & McGhee, M. (2019). Soot in the Lubricating Oil: An Overlooked Concern for the Gasoline Direct Injection Engine?. SAE Technical Papers, 2019-April, Article 2019-01-0301. https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-01-0301

Journal Article Type Conference Paper
Conference Name WCX SAE World Congress Experience
Conference Location Detroit, USA
Acceptance Date Feb 2, 2019
Online Publication Date Apr 2, 2019
Publication Date Apr 2, 2019
Deposit Date Apr 2, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal SAE Technical Papers
Electronic ISSN 0148-7191
Publisher SAE International
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 2019-April
Article Number 2019-01-0301
DOI https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-01-0301
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1729756
Publisher URL https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-0301/
Related Public URLs https://www.sae.org/attend/wcx

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