The porous plate-shaped filler aggregate includes a plurality of the porous plate-shaped fillers. The porous plate-shaped fillers have a uniform plate shape with an aspect ratio of 3 or more, a minimum length of 0.1 to 50 m, a porosity of 20 to 99%, and the deviation of the maximum length among a plurality of the porous plate-shaped fillers, which is obtained by the following formula, is 10% or less.
Deviation of the maximum length (%)=standard deviation of the maximum length/average value of the maximum length100 (Here, maximum length is the longest length when the porous plate-shaped fillers are held between a pair of parallel planes.)

A piston shoe as a sliding component includes a base section, which is made of steel, and a sliding section having a sliding surface, which is made of copper alloy and joined to the base section. The base section and the sliding section are joined, with a base section joint region being formed in the base section, the base section joint region including a base section joint surface that is a surface joined to the sliding section and having smaller grains than other regions in the base section.

A piston for an internal combustion engine and a method for producing a piston are disclosed. The piston includes an upper piston part and a lower piston part that together delimit a circumferential cooling channel for receiving a cooling medium both radially inside and radially outside. The upper piston part and the lower piston part are connected to one another via a radially outer weld connection and a radially inner weld connection. The radially outer weld connection includes a radially outer weld bead that projects radially inwards into the cooling channel for forming a deflection element for the cooling medium received in the cooling channel.

A piston including at least one insert disposed between an inner surface of a ring belt and undercrown surface, and/or between the inner surface of the ring belt and a pin boss, to provide reinforcement to the ring belt is provided. The insert reduces thermal and mechanical distortion of the ring belt, and thus increases the piston ring performance, reduces blow-by, and ultimately improves engine emissions. The insert is formed by an additive machining process, such as direct depositing, laser cladding, laser sintering, arc welding, additive welding, plasma transferred arc spraying, plasma welding, arc welding, selective laser sintering, and high velocity oxygen fuel spraying, plasma spraying. According to one embodiment, an intermediate piece is mechanically attached to the piston, and the insert is applied to the intermediate piece, to provide additional reinforcement.

A steel piston achieving increased thermal brake efficiency in an internal combustion engine is provided. The piston includes a crown presenting a combustion surface, an outer side wall depending from the combustion surface, an outer cooling gallery, and an undercrown cooling gallery. The outer cooling gallery extends circumferentially along the outer side wall beneath the combustion surface. According to one embodiment, the outer cooling gallery is sealed and filled with air, argon, helium, xenon, or carbon dioxide as a cooling media. In this embodiment, the undercrown cooling gallery is filled with air as a cooling media and includes an open inlet hole having a diameter being from 2% to 4% of an outer diameter of the piston. Alternatively, the undercrown cooling gallery is filled with air, argon, helium, xenon, or carbon dioxide as a cooling media, and the inlet hole is sealed.

A method for producing a piston for an internal combustion engine may include the steps of: producing a piston upper part from a first blank via a deformation process; producing a piston lower part from a second blank via at least one of a deformation process and a casting process; connecting the first blank of the piston upper part and the second blank of the piston lower part to form a piston body via a welding process; and performing at least one of a secondary machining process and a finish machining process of the piston body to produce the piston.

A composite engine component comprises a body having an outer circumferential surface and an inner circumferential surface. The body of the engine component is of unitary, integral, one-piece construction and comprises a radially inner section and a radially outer section having different material compositions. The radially inner section and the radially outer section of the body are welded together using a magnetic pulse welding process in which a metallurgical bond is formed along a bonding interface between the inner and outer sections of the body.

A welded portion forming structure forms a welded portion that joins a valve seat and a cylinder head main body. If the distance in a radial direction between a vertex of a corner, which is formed by a first surface and a second surface of the convex portion, and the first origin portion is assumed to be A, and the distance in the radial direction between the vertex and the second origin portion is assumed to be B, then a relation that satisfies all of A>0, AB, and B0 holds. Moreover, an angle which a first joint surface of the valve seat forms with an axial direction and an angle which the second joint surface forms with the axial direction are equal.

A pressure vessel includes: (a) a cylindrical sidewall having a wall thickness, an inside surface, an outside surface, and the cylindrical sidewall extending between a first end and a second end, wherein one of the first end or the second end includes a sidewall edge that forms part of an outwardly opening weld groove; (b) an end cap constructed to engage the cylindrical sidewall edge, the end cap comprising an end cap edge corresponding to the sidewall edge and that, when combined with the sidewall edge, forms the outwardly opening weld groove; (c) a cylindrically extending backer bar located in support of the outwardly opening weld groove formed by the sidewall edge and the end cap edge; and (d) a weld joint formed in the outwardly opening weld groove and holding the cylindrical sidewall to the end cap. A method for welding a pressure vessel sidewall and end cap together is provided.

A method for bonding a cylinder liner within a cylinder bore of a vehicle engine block includes providing a bonding substrate on one of an outside surface of the cylinder liner and an inside surface of a cylinder bore in the engine block, positioning the cylinder liner in the cylinder bore, and heating the cylinder liner.