Why metals corrode

[Ranger]

About 20 years ago, a friend of mine told me that he read that one day engines would be made out of ceramic.. What do we think of that?, can you put threads in ceramic?

I recall reading that. It said that cooling systems would be unnecessary.

[Cadillac Jim]

GM has experimented with a all-ceramic engine that has no cooling system. The idea is that lost heat is output energy lost, and that an insulated engine with no cooling system would necessarily provide all heat not lost through the insulation as output. Turbines are built this way for the same reason and they have efficiency of 80%, with the rest of the loss being due to entropy increase in the gas as it pases through the turbine. Auto engines have about 25% efficiency. So, at least a factor of two should be available with an insulated engine. Ceramics are necessary to withstand the temperatures that inevitably result from such an arrangement.

I haven't heard much from it in years. I suspect that the massive technical problems involved and the direction that the research was taking the engine in terms of size and weight for a given power output and such was inconsistent with their budget and goals.

[Cadillac Jim]

1G6KY53BXNU808712

1 Made in USA

G GM

6 Cadillac

KY STS

5 Four-door sedan

3 Active (manual) seat belts with driver's side airbag

B L26 4.9L V-8

X Check digit (OK)

N Model year 1992

U Assembly plant (Hamtramk?)

808712 Serial number

[zonie77]

I have no interest in cruising other auto boards so I'll add another question to the mix; is the Northstar the only aluminum engine that has a street reputation (undeserved as it is) for head gasket failures?

I've mentioned this before...I walked in on some guys talking about HG failures in newer cars, listened for a little bit and asked if they were talking about Caddy's...they said "Caddy's have HG problems too??"