Cylinder liner materials

[Cyco]

I'm looking for some info on the pros and cons of the various cylinder liner materials in use.

The ones I know of so far are:

Aluminium (or unlined); Pro: Light, has the same expansion rate as the block, Con: Soft

Iron (there must be several varieties here); Pros: Strong, easily made, durable, Cons: Heavy, expansion rate needs careful design

Nikasil; Pros: Strong, light, durable, Cons: cost

Beryllium; Pros: very light, Cons: Cost, toxicity.

Beryllium has only been used (to my knowledge) in the Ilmore F1 engines till it was banned and Nikasil is much more popular for bikes than cars.

All other information would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

[PerfAdv]

In the mid-90s BMW introduced their V8 engines, they originally had Alusil liners. The Aluminum/Silicone liners didn't fare well with the high-Sulfur gasolines in the US and caused cylinder liner erosion, and subsequent loss of compression. This lead BMW to replace many of those early V8s with Nikasil liner-ed engines. So in your list of materials, I think unlined engines would also be suspect to bad fuel, unless the entire block is made of a corrosion resistant alloy.