Overheating of Aircraft Engine Cylinders

Cylinder fatigue can result from abnormal heating in service. Fatigue can be experienced also by piston heads, exhaust valves, and turbosupercharger housings (castings). Pistons from different engines series can sometimes fit, but because of slight design modifications, they may not function properly. Circumferential cracks and fractures near the head-to- barrel junctions have occurred on numerous cylinders of reciprocating piston engines. In most instances, cracks were caused by high cyclic pressures and high temperatures resulting most probably from detonation. At times, fractures or cracks (or both) were also caused by a combination of unfavorable temperature distribution (and possibly excessive pressures around the cylinder barrel), un-nitrided internal surfaces of cylinder barrels, and inadequate thread contours, which caused high stress concentrations at the thread roots. One example of the most common type of cylinder failure is illustrated.