Sheet1

Title

Serial No.

1 Corrosion behavior of biodiesel on diesel engine parts

Engine failure caused by erosioncorrosion

Page 1

Sheet1

Authors
Savita Kaul, R.C. Saxena, Ajay Kumar, M.S. Negi,
A.K. Bhatnagar, H.B. Goyal, A.K. Gupta

Myounggu Park

Page 2

Sheet1
Journal

Fuel Processing Technology 88 (2007) 303 307

Engineering Failure Analysis 9 (2002) 673681

Page 3

Sheet1

Parameters Of Study
1. Corrosion behavior of biodiesels on diesel engine parts using static immersion
test for 7200 h.
2.The oils tested were Pongamia glabra, Salvadora oleoides,
Madhuca Indica and Jatropha curcas.
3. The tests were conducted on Piston Metal and Piston liner Metal.

During a mission flight, the flame of one of the two engines of an F-5F combat aircraft went out. The
aircraft landed according to its emergency landing procedure. At the initial investigation the failed engine
was disassembled and inspected carefully. From this field investigation, it was discovered that the boost
element of the main fuel pump was rubbed and the filters installed on the fuel system were partially clogg
metal chips. So this failure analysis was focused to find the root cause of the boost stage wear damage w
made the fuel system malfunction and the exact failure mechanism to prevent the same type of failure fro

Page 4

Sheet1

System Modifications
Metal specimens were degreased, preweighed and suspended using teflon
thread separately in various biodiesels and undoped commercial HSD in stopped
measuring cylinders. These static immersion studies were carried out for a
period of 300 days at ambient temperature. During the test period the
temperature variation was observed between 15 and 40 C due to climatic
changes. The test metal specimens were evaluated after 300 days for qualitative
and quantitative estimation of corrosion

1. To identify the particles flowing into the main fuel pump, EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray) analysis of the
surface of the boost element was done. Firstly the normal surface was EDX analyzed and secondly the
rubbed surface.
2. The chips from the filters installed on the fuel system were collected and EDX-analyzed one by one.
3. For the investigation of the potential source of stainless steel particles, the fuel flow was examined from
fuel cell to main fuel pump.
4. The fuel manifold was cut for internal examination.

Page 5

Sheet1

Observations or Results

In the case of piston liner weight loss was observed with all
biodiesel samples.
With J. curcas biodiesel there is slightly
more corrosion as compared to Mahua
and Karanja
.However, with all biodiesel samples the
corrosion is within permissible
limits. In the case of piston metal the corrosion of biodiesel from
Karanja and Mahua oil is comparable with petro-diesel. However, the weight loss in Salvadora oil is
10 times
higher than the biodiesel from J. curcas oil. Similar observations were also made for corrosion rate (mpy)
. Corrosion rate is highest with Salvadora biodiesel due to the presence of a high content of
sulphur followed by JC oil due to the presence of C18:2 fatty
acids as compared to other oils.

1. From the EDX spectrum of the normal surface it is shown that the base material is Aluminum. Also by i
was manufactured by a casting process. However the EDX results of the rubbed region clearly showed
presence of Fe. From these analysis result it was revealed that the particle base material was iron.
2. The analysis results revealed that the chip base material was Al, indicating that the
chips were form the impeller and its cover. The EDX analysis of the chip surface shows major elements o
Fe-based particles induced the wear damage on the surface of
the boost element.
3. Main filtering was done by a fuel strainer and the fuel flow transmitter has its own screen for filtering of
source of stainless steel particles is the fuel manifold attached directly to the main fuel pump.
4. At the bend of the fuel manifold is revealed the erosion
corrosion attack. Especially at the site where molten metal penetrates into the inner wall of the
manifold during the welding process, the erosioncorrosion was very severe. Also the surface
metal was removed and became particles. These particles might have entered into the main fuel
pump inlet and resulted in fuel system malfunction.

Page 6

Sheet1

Conclusion
Biodiesel from Mahua and Karanja shows no
corrosion on piston metal and piston liner whereas Salvadora
biodiesel has a marked corrosion effect on both metals due to
high sulphur compounds (sulphur 1600 ppm): such as
thioglycosides, glucotropaeolin, dibenzylthiourea and dibenzylurea indicating that this oil is not suitable for biodiesel
production especially when Bharat III and Bharat IV norms
will be implemented. Instead, this biodiesel can be used as
lubricity improver additive. J. curcas has a slight corrosive
effect on piston liner possibly due to the presence of linoleic
acid 18:2 fatty acids.

The most significant effect of erosioncorrosion is theconstant removal of protective films from the metal
film is removed.This can be caused by movement at high velocities, and will be particularly
prone to occur if the solution contains solid particles (e.g. insoluble salts, sand and silt) that have an
abrasive action. Thus the cleanliness of the fuel is one of the important factors to be controlled. EDX spe
major
elements of stainless steel. This result is in good agreement with the EDX results of the rubbing surface
the boost element and the chip surface. Thus it is a reasonable guess is that the particles removed f
surface of the internal welding bead entered into the MFP and resulted in the engine failure.
From
the internal inspection of several fuel manifolds using a borescope it is thought that most of the manifold
an internal welding bead. And this internal welding bead can be a potential source of small particles if thi
are attacked by erosioncorrosion. Therefore for the elimination of this kind of failure, the optimization of
welding process not to make internal welding beads are necessary.

Page 7