A piston for an internal combustion engine and method of construction thereof are provided. The piston includes an upper crown formed at least in part by a first metal material and a thermally insulating insert. The upper crown has an upper wall forming an upper combustion surface and a ring belt region. The upper combustion surface is formed at least in part by the thermally insulating insert. The thermally insulating insert has a base surface with pores extending upwardly therein. The first metal material is infused and solidified in the pores, with the first metal material forming a first bonding surface. The piston further includes a body portion formed from a second metal material. The body portion provides pin bosses having coaxially aligned pin bores and diametrically opposite skirt portions. The body portion has a second bonding surface bonded to the first bonding surface of the first metal material.

A method is provided for designing and producing fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) pistons. Pistons made with FRP have a lower mass than prior art metal pistons conferring advantageous engine efficiency and stability. FRP pistons also increase the thermal efficiency of engines by having a lower thermal conductivity, with tighter piston-to-bore clearance, and/increased air-fuel ratio than pistons of metal. The technical parameters of the piston are identified, and a piston body blank is produced. The blank is then machined, a bearing surface for the pin bore is created, the piston blank is optionally coated, is optionally subjected to Heavy Metal Ion Implantation (HMII) treatment and is subjected to sodium silicate impregnation to produce the final pistons.

Disclosed is an austenitic stainless steel alloy that includes or consists of, by weight, about 24.0% to about 26.0% chromium, about 13.0% to about 20.0% nickel, about 4.5% to about 5.5% manganese, about 1.2 to about 1.5% niobium, about 1.0% to about 2.0% silicon, about 0.4% to about 0.5% carbon, about 0.2% to about 0.3% nitrogen, and a balance of iron with inevitable/unavoidable impurities. The elements tungsten and molybdenum are excluded beyond impurity levels. Turbocharger turbine housings made of the stainless steel alloy are also disclosed. The stainless steel alloy is suitable for use in turbocharger turbine applications for temperatures beyond about 1050° C., such as up to about 1070° C.

A refrigerant compressor includes: an electric component; and a compression component driven by the electric component to compress a refrigerant. At least one sliding member constituting the compression component is made of a base material (185) that is an iron-based material. An abrasion resistance film (180) including a surface layer constituted by at least fine crystals is formed on a sliding surface of the sliding member. The surface layer (181) includes an A portion in which a component contained most is diiron trioxide (Fe.sub.2O.sub.3). The A portion exists within a range of at least 0.3 m or less from an outermost surface of the sliding surface. The abrasion resistance film (180) may include at least one intermediate layer (182 to 184) located between the surface layer (181) and the base material (185). With this, self-abrasion resistance of the sliding member can be improved, so that the refrigerant compressor having excellent reliability and efficiency can be obtained.

A ring carrier for a piston for an internal combustion engine is formed by a carrier body having an outer circumferential surface, an inner circumferential surface, a top surface and a bottom surface, with at least one ring groove formed in the outer circumferential surface. An outer circumferential portion of the ring carrier is formed of gray iron, and an inner circumferential portion is formed of ductile iron. A transition region between the outer circumferential portion and the inner circumferential portion intersects upper and lower flanks of the ring groove, so that an outer circumferential extent of the flanks is formed of gray iron and an inner circumferential extent of the flanks is formed of ductile iron.

Disclosed is a copper-infiltrated valve seat insert of an iron-base sintered alloy having a two-layer structure formed by integrating a functional member side layer and a supporting member side layer across a boundary, and the thermal conductivity rate at 300 C. is 25 W/m.Math.K or more in the functional member side layer and 60 W/m.Math.K or more in the supporting member side layer.

A slide member of the present invention is used in a slide unit which is included in a refrigerant compressor for compressing a refrigerant and provided inside a sealed container which reserves lubricating oil therein. The slide member is provided with an oxide coating film on a surface of a base material. The oxide coating film is configured such that (1) when the base material comprises an iron based material, the oxide coating film has a three-layer structure including a first layer comprising Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, a second layer comprising Fe.sub.3O.sub.4, and a third layer comprising FeO in this order from an outermost surface, (2) the oxide coating film has a dense structure having minute concave/convex portions with a height difference which falls within a range of 0.01 m to 0.1 m, or (3) when the base material comprises the iron based material, the oxide coating film has a three-layer structure in which the three layers comprise the iron oxides and are different in hardness.

A refrigerant compressor includes: an electric component (106); a compression component (107) driven by the electric component to compress a refrigerant; and a sealed container (101) accommodating the electric component and the compression component. The compression component includes: a shaft part (109, 110) rotated by the electric component; and a bearing part (114, 119) slidingly contacting the shaft part such that the shaft part is rotatable. A film (160) having hardness equal to or more than hardness of a sliding surface of the bearing part is provided on a sliding surface of the shaft part. Surface roughness of the sliding surface of the bearing part is smaller than surface roughness of the sliding surface of the shaft part.

A method is provided for designing and producing fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) pistons. Pistons made with FRP have a lower mass than prior art metal pistons conferring advantageous engine efficiency and stability. FRP pistons also increase the thermal efficiency of engines by having a lower thermal conductivity, with tighter piston-to-bore clearance, and/increased air-fuel ratio than pistons of metal. The technical parameters of the piston are identified, and a piston body blank is produced. The blank is then machined, a bearing surface for the pin bore is created, the piston blank is optionally coated, is optionally subjected to Heavy Metal Ion Implantation (HMII) treatment and is subjected to sodium silicate impregnation to produce the final pistons.

A refrigerant compressor includes: an electric component; and a compression component driven by the electric component to compress a refrigerant. At least one sliding member constituting the compression component is made of a base material (185) that is an iron-based material. An abrasion resistance film (180) including a surface layer constituted by at least fine crystals is formed on a sliding surface of the sliding member. The surface layer (181) includes an A portion in which a component contained most is diiron trioxide (Fe.sub.2O.sub.3). The A portion exists within a range of at least 0.3 m or less from an outermost surface of the sliding surface. The abrasion resistance film (180) may include at least one intermediate layer (182 to 184) located between the surface layer (181) and the base material (185). With this, self-abrasion resistance of the sliding member can be improved, so that the refrigerant compressor having excellent reliability and efficiency can be obtained.