[Ecky]

This morning I was reading on wikipedia about yield and tensile strength of various materials, and it got me to thinking - there are plenty of materials out there which have different properties, which might lead to lighter or more durable or more efficient engines.

Surely most of manufacturing is what it is because of cost and complexity reasons, but I'm curious just what could be produced if cost were less important, or not important at all.

I considered briefly a block sleeved with a titanium alloy. While it likely wouldn't be any stronger than a good steel, titanium weighs less and its thermal conductivity is very significantly lower. In a reciprocating piston engine, is it not the case that the less heat is lost from the cylinder, the more of it can be made useful? Ceramic might be another contender here.

I've read of manufacturers using magnesium to save weight in certain components - e.g. Honda's use of it in transmission cases and oil pans. Reading about its properties leaves me confused, because it appears aluminum is stronger at a given weight, magnesium is just lighter at a given volume. Or, in other words, the same transmission case made out of magnesium would be lighter, but you could make a stronger one with a given weight with aluminum if you were clever with your design.

I'm not sure what properties make for more durable and lower friction bearings, but my guess would be a combination of hardness and Young's modulus.

This is not even getting into the more exotic materials one could make a chassis out of, of course, or things like superconductor wiring.