Stainless Steel for ic cylinder

[Ger Beattie]

I work for a company that uses gas spring struts , some strusts need to be replaced and I was thinking of using the cylinder of the old struts for the cylinder of an engine as I reckon the cylinders bore would be mchined parrallel and would make a good cylinder for an engine, some of the cylinders are made from stainless steel and others are from steel. So before I get and cut open a strut I want to know if it wouls de better to use a strut made from steel or stainless steel, is stainless steel a good material material to use for an IC cylinder bore?, if not maybe could be used for a vacuum engine or sterling engine

Regards
Gerard Beattie
Ireland

 

[GreenTwin]

Fred Rosse used a hydraulic cylinder for his steam engine.

I am not sure what material the cylinder is made from.

 

[peterl95124]

stick with proven metals (grey cast iron, 1144 steel, etc, I've even had good
luck with 4130 when a thin wall was required), otherwise you're the guinea pig !

I once used brass pipe to make split crankshaft bearings because it was
cheap and available at the local hardware store, had to throw the entire set out,
because brass galls !!!, use leaded bronze only.

 

[ranger]

Stainless steel doesn’t conduct heat as well as other steels. I believe it also has a higher rate of expansion than most steels and cast iron. This could potentially cause issues, i.e, possible seizures etc, if used for an i.c. engine cylinder?

 

[Vietti]

Cliff Roemisch in SD has been using hydraulic cylinder material for a few of his ic engines and really likes them. Think he uses the stock bore and finish. If he is on this forum I hope he chimes in.

 

[Longboy]

Well either material works for cylinders Ger. Most likely for a model engine that doesn't see hours of run time anyway through the years, it is builders choice of materials with little consideration of which is the better for the purpose.

 

[Nerd1000]

The common austenitic grades of stainless (304 and 316) are a bad choice for a cylinder liner. Some other kinds would work, but you need to know what you are dealing with.

 

[Jasonb]

I've seen a few model IC engines built with Hydraulic tube, the pre honed bore can be used as is and is ideal for anything with a long bore, these have been steel rather than stainless but with Viton rings on a slowish running display only engine I should think the stainless would be fine.

It would certainly be OK for displacer cylinders on hot air engines, possibly just reduce the wall thickness by turning down the OD. I usually use 1.5mm wall 304 but have also thinned stock tube down to about 0.8mm on smaller stirling engines. This is where it's lower heat conductivity IS an advantage to stop heat getting into the cold parts of the engine.

 

[Peter Twissell]

The term stainless steel covers a multitude of alloys with range of chrome and nickel content.
As stated previously, grades such as 303 and 304 are unlikely to be suitable for use with metal piston rings, as the surface will gall.
Grades such as 17-4 may be more suitable. I have used 17-4 in hydraulic piston valves with good results over long periods of high frequency operation.