Has anyone bit the bullet on ceramic piston coating?

I gather it is intended to create a super hot crown, while keeping more heat from the metal.

Is it conceivable that it could flake off?

How much of a performance gain will it yield?

 

I have Jet- Hot coated pistons, with teflon on the sides, along with other ceramic coating. The pistons are an aluminum alloy. Aluminum (in it's pure form) melts at 1228*, and i personally ran near double that at one point, don't wanna go there lol. Anyway the piston gets cooling from underneath from oil squirter jets, and the fresh incoming air, etc so the piston it'self doesnt see that. But over time it gets harder and harder on the piston to see repeated high temperatures, they begin forming cracks around the edge of the bowl, and down into the centers. There is a sharp edge on the edge of the bowl where cracks begin to start, so when i had my compression reduced, i had them cut back that edge to a nice round curve to prevent that. The teflon on the sides helps prevent wear, im running a pretty loose cylinder to piston clearance for high temperature running. All the ceramic does is act as a heat barrier, to reflect that heat into the cylinder and out the exhaust, and prevent the heat soak into the piston. I also have it on the inside and out of the headers, up pipes and turbine housing.

before coating-



after coating-

 

OK, so simply put, the ceramic coating slows the heat transfer into the pistons, meaning their current cooling methods become excessive for intended power, and more suitable for higher temps/ power.

am i right?

What are the chances of the coating coming loose from the piston itself?

 

Almost none. The coating bonds on such a level that it almost becomes part of it, and not really a "coating". Remember to really research if you are going to have this done. Just because the company has a big name doesn't mean that they have the best product.

 

Then who would you recommend for the best coating?

 

I learned about the bond of a ceramic and metal in my materials science class. It's actually pretty cool. It goes all the way to the crystalline structure of the metal alloy and bonds at such a level. So the ceramic won't come off.

 

wow, thats sensational.

Is there a limit to how thick the ceramic can be?

I'm just thinking, if there was enough, and did a good job of insulating, it could be possible to have red hot piston crowns under hard acceleration....cooooool