Emergence of new designs for internal combustion engines resulted in a necessity to search for new materials which will rise to excessive technological requirements under operating conditions of modern internal combustion engines of up to 150 kW. Focusing only on material properties, theoretically existing alloys should meet presents requirements. More importantly, existing materials are well fitted to the entire crank-piston system. Thus, there is a need for a more thorough examination of these materials. The paper presents studies on determination of coefficient of friction μ and wear for the A390.0 alloy modified with AlTi5B master alloy combined with EN GJL-350 cast iron. The characteristics of a T-11 tribological tester (pin on disc) used for the tests, as well as the methodology of the tribological tests, were described. Also, the analysis of the surface distribution of elements for the pin and the disc was presented. The studies were realized in order to find whether the analyzed alloy meets the excessive requirements for the materials intended for pistons of modern internal combustion engines. The results show that the A390.0 alloy can only be applied to a load of 1.4 MPa. Above this value was observed destructive wear, which results in the inability to use it in modern internal combustion engines.

The paper presents the influence of modification with phosphorus (CuP10) on the tribological properties of the alloy AlSi17Cu5Mg coupled

abrasively with cast-iron EN GJL-350. Tests of coefficient of friction and wear of mass were conducted on tribological tester T-01. An

important aspect in the assessment of the tribological properties is the analysis of initial material microstructure in reference to silumin which

underwent modification with phosphorus. It was found that the difference in structure of tested materials, mainly sizes of primary silicon

crystals significantly influences the tribological properties whereas the speed change of the friction knot does not have such big influence.

The paper presents tribological properties of A390.0 (AlSi17Cu5Mg) alloy coupled in abrasive action with EN-GJL-350 grey cast-iron.

The silumin was prepared with the use of two different technologies which differed in terms of cooling speed. In the first case the alloy

was modified with foundry alloy CuP10 and cast to a standard tester ATD and in case of second option the modified alloy was cast into

steel casting die. Due to different speed of heat removal the silumins varied in structure, particularly with size of primary crystals of silicon

and their distribution in matrix which had a significant influence of friction coefficient in conditions of dry friction.

The paper presents an analysis of the effect of shape of primary silicon crystals on the sizes of stresses and deformations in a surface layer

of A390.0 alloy by Finite Elements Method (FEM). Analysis of stereological characteristics of the studied alloy, performed based on a

quantitative metallographic analysis in combination with a statistical analysis, was used for this purpose. The presented simulation tests

showed not only the deposition depth of maximum stresses and strains, but also allowed for determining the aforementioned values

depending on the shape of the silicon crystals. The studied material is intended for pistons of internal combustion engines, therefore the

analysis of the surface layer corresponded to conditions during friction in a piston-cylinder system of an internal combustion engine having

power of up to 100 kW. The obtained results showed important differences in the values of stresses and strains up to 15% between various

shape of the silicon crystals. Crystals with sharp edges caused higher stresses and deformation locally than those with rounded shapes.