Stumbled across this whilst researching two piece diesel pistons Piston crowns get hot, jut how hot do piston skirts get though...food for thought
Exactweld in the UK - a pair of mad Poms - were playing with PEEK pistons for 2 strokes in the 80's Liners too i believe. Never heard how it turned out.
It's not a crazy concept to have a two piece piston - been researching diesel pistons - they take a hammering, they're now going to full steel pistons which pretty much resemble the 250 pistons, with a weight benefit over the aluminium counterparts and other advantages to do with thermal expansion which closely matches the steel cylinders and blocks - not yet mainstream On the Russian experiment: It's not too ridiculous to imagine the correct material being used to form part of the skirt support if there's a significant weight advantage On another related tangent, this is interesting on piston design - lots of complexity that isn't readily visible to the naked eye. https://auto.jepistons.com/blog/understanding-piston-skirt-design - it also explains why there are usually oval shaped areas of wear on used pistons - essentially it's been designed that way
been researching diesel pistons - they take a hammering Do they what. I was talking with diesel mechanic teachers at college a few years ago and the technology is pretty amazing. The Injectors force the diesel mix into the chamber with such force that the piston crown eventually gets grooves in it. I can't recall the pressure of the latest generation of diesel engines, but it was an astronomical number like tens of thousands of PSI. I saw the plastic piston YT video the other day and I was going to post it, but decided against it. I laughed when they said they'd made a set of pistons out of wood...hilarity guaranteed.
I like that he didn't just talk about it over a lager, or in his case perthaps a few vodkas He got on with it and did it and the damned thing actually ran, although briefly I do remember this the development of this Solvay engine in something that I read many years ago https://www.automotiveplastics.com/blog/you-wont-believe-this-a-real-plastic-engine/
