Welcome to Techlines... October 2006

Black Beauty

Black Beauty is a sand blasting media. It is generally not recommended for use as it can contain a small amount of oil. This oil can contaminate the surface leading to a failure of the coating.

December 2006 Hot Rod magazine Article

NOT ALL COATINGS ARE CREATED EQUAL

In the December 2006 issue of Hot Rod magazine an article on Coatings appeared. The article was a very good review of coatings. However some may be concerned about the power produced by the coatings used. The dry film lubricants did not fair well at all, though the Thermal Barrier coatings and Header coatings did make power. Fortunately for us our coatings were ONLY applied to the headers in the story.

Let’s consider what the results mean.

Headers: Xtreme coatings of Camarillo, California, applied our coatings to Stainless Steel headers. Stainless Steel is already a very good thermal barrier, so any H.P. gain is indicative of a very efficient coating. The results showed both a H.P. gain as well as lower temperatures on the surface. Imagine how much better the results will be on mild steel headers.

Blower test: While this was not a Tech Line product, it does show what a properly designed coating can do. This kind of coating, a conforming coating, has been in use by Tech Line for years as we originally developed this type of coating over 18 years ago. Glad to see others are beginning to recognize the benefits. Check the Results of a tech Line coated supercharger posted in the November 2005 Newsletter at; http://www.techlinecoatings.com/TechlinesNovember05.htm

Thermal Barrier Coatings: The article refers to both the pistons and the heads being coated. Power was made due to the use of the coatings. These WERE NOT our coatings. Typically we see the same power gains with just the pistons coated. One of the reasons we believe for the difference is that the coating used in the test were Gold in color. While we do manufacture a Gold Combustion Chamber coating for manufacturers, our CBC1, CBC2 and CBX will work even better. The color is critical as the “silver” color of CBC1, CBC2 and CBX enhance heat management better than darker colors.

Anti Friction: Here they actually saw a power loss below 5700 RPM. Above this point, which is after peak power was reached, the coatings showed some benefit. Again not all coatings are created equal. If PTFE (Teflon) or Graphite are used we normally see less benefit. PTFE is a low speed low pressure lubricant. As speed and pressure increase the low friction properties degrade. PTFE can add some durability and slickness to a coating, but will have minimal to no effect under high load. Graphite is only a lubricant in the presence of water. Please note the information from “Wikipedia”;

“Graphite powder is used as a dry lubricant, although it might be thought that this industrially important property is due entirely to the loose interlamellar coupling between sheets in the structure, in fact in a vacuum environment (such as in technologies for use in space), graphite was found to be a very poor lubricant, leading to the discovery that in fact lubrication is due to adsorbed air and water between the layers, unlike other layered dry lubricants such as molybdenum disulfide. Recent studies suggest that an effect called superlubricity can also account for this effect. The use of graphite is also limited by its tendency to facilitate pitting corrosion in some stainless steels, and to promote galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. It is also corrosive to aluminium in presence of moisture. The US Air Force banned its use as a lubricant in aircraft [1] and its use for aluminium-containing automatic weapons is discouraged as well.[2] Even graphite pencil marks on aluminium parts may facilitate corrosion.”

We use graphite and PTFE where they will show a genuine benefit. This is extremely important as how a coating feels to the touch, is not a good indicator of how it will perform under load.

Oil Shedders: In repeated testing, including with a major O.E.M., we have seen no benefit from the “oil shedding” properties, insofar as power is concerned. Our oil shedding coatings are designed to work with heat. Our TLTD helps the oil pick up heat from the coated part, increasing the ability of the oil to cool the part. By allowing the oil to be “shed” off the part more quickly, the heat absorbing ability of oil is enhanced, as oil flows rapidly past the part, cooling it. This is especially important for Crankshafts and aluminum Rods. Power loss from “windage” is not affected by oil shedding coatings to any great degree. We recommend our oil shedding coatings fro their functional ability to aid in cooling. Ingredients are critical here as materials such as PTFE actually create a thermal barrier effect and can reduce the ability of oil to absorb heat from a part. Oil is the primary engine coolant.

Making the correct choice when it comes to coatings is very easy,
call Tech Line Coatings, for assistance.

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