Thermal sprayed coatings are already used for the wear protection of cylinder bores since more than five years in the automotive industry, primarily in Europe. The adhesion of the coating on the different possible substrates is a key factor for the success of this operation. The paper gives an overview of the different potential processes used for the surface preparation prior coating deposition. The influence of different substrate materials will be discussed also. Aluminum casting alloys, magnesium base materials, cast iron and also steel substrates will be considered in this paper.

The safety and economical aspects of the different processes are considered also.

Further the paper will give an up date of the state of the art of the thermal spraying of cylinder bores and the important aspect regarding the saving of energy resource.