Corrosion and cavitation behaviour of light metals in cooling systems of combustion engines

Combustion engines are liquid-cooled, in general, in order to transport awa y dissipated heat and to avoid overheating. Initially, pure water without a ny further additives was employed for this purpose. With the introduction o f high-speed marine diesel engines, however, sometimes after only 20 000 op erating hours there occurred damage at the cylinder liners that had been ex posed to the cooling water. More than forty years ago, the Research Associa tion Internal Combustion Engines, Registered Association (FVV), Frankfurt a m Main, which was founded in the year 1956, commissioned the Institute of M aterials Science of the Darmstadt University of Technology to investigate a nd, if possible, clarify damage of this type and to elaborate corrective ac tion. Since that time, the problem of corrosion in cooling systems has been worked on.