Identification of Amorphous Silicon Dioxide Depositing on the Spark Plug as a Potential Danger to Automobiles

摘要

Silicon contamination of gasoline leads to silica deposits on vehicle components such as spark plugs, catalytic converters, and oxygen sensors. Silicon may come from recycled toluene, ethanol, antifoam agents, silicon oils, and antifoam agents (PDMS). Several incidents occurred in many countries including the United Kingdom, the United States and China, which caused thousands of automobile failures every time. In this study, the possible sources of silicon contaminants were illustrated, a series of method including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy microscope, Raman microscope and scanning electronic microscope (SEM)/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were established to analyze the amorphous silicon dioxide deposits on the spark plugs accurately. The method would help the forensic scientists to find the real reasons of the automobile failures, trace the suspect, and fix these evidences.