Spark plug having spark portion provided with a base material and a protective material

1. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material comprising nickel and at least two elements selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, Rhenium, Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold.

2. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said at least two elements are Iridium and Chromium.

3. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said at least two elements are Copper and Chromium.

4. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said protective material contains Nickel in an amount of 80-99% by weight.

5. The spark plug of claim 4 wherein said protective material contains Nickel in an amount of 80-95% by weight.

6. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein at least one of said at least two elements is selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium and wherein said at least one element forms less than 50% by weight of said protective material.

7. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said at least two elements are selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Chromium Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium and wherein said protective material includes less than 90% by weight of said at least two elements.

8. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein at least one element of said at least two elements is selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold and wherein said at least one element is less than 20% by weight of said protective material.

9. The spark plug of claim 8 wherein said protective material contains Iridium and wherein at least one element of said at least two elements selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold.

10. The spark plug of claim 9 wherein said protective material contains less than 5% by weight of said at least one element.

11. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said protective material contains greater than 0.5% by weight of said at least one element selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold.

12. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein at least one element of said at least two elements is selected from the group consisting of Platinum and Iridium and the other of said at least two elements forms 0.5% to 50% by weight of said protective layer and is selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold.

13. The spark plug of claim 12 wherein said protective material contains 5% to 30% by weight of said other of said at least two elements.

14. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein at least one element of said at least two elements is selected from the group consisting of Platinum and Iridium and the other of said at least two elements forms 7% to 25% by weight of said protective material and is selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Osmium, Gold, and Aluminum.

15. The spark plug of claim 14 wherein said other of said at least two elements forms 10% to 18% by weight of said.

16. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said protective material includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Iridium, Copper, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium and Rhenium and further includes Chromium in an amount of 0.5% to 20% by weight.

17. The spark plug of claim 16 wherein said protective material contains Chromium in an amount of 5% to 18% by weight.

18. The spark plug of claim 16 wherein said protective material one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Copper, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Tungsten, and wherein said one or more elements forms less than 10% by weight of said protective material.

19. The spark plug of claim 18 wherein said protective material includes Copper and wherein Copper forms less than 7% by weight of said protective material.

20. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said base material contains 50% to 100% by weight Iridium, and said protective material contains 75% to 99% by weight Nickel, 5% to 25% by weight Chromium with the balance of the protective material being selected from one or more elements from the group consisting of Copper, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium.

21. The spark plug of claim 20 wherein said base material contains 90% to 100% by weight Iridium, and said protective material contains 80% to 90% by weight Nickel, 10% to 20% by weight Chromium with the balance of the protective material being selected from one or more elements from the group consisting of Copper, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium.

22. The spark plug of claim 20 wherein said protective material includes Copper in an amount of less than 10% by weight of the protective material.

23. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein said base material contains 50% to 100% by weight Iridium, and said protective material contains 0.001% to 90% by weight Nickel, contains Chromium and wherein Chromium forms less than 10% by weight of the protective material and less than 10% by weight Copper.

24. The spark plug of claim 1 wherein one of said at least two elements is Platinum.

25. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and wherein said spark portion includes a protective material that contains Iridium and at least 80% Nickel by weight.

26. The spark plug of claim 25 wherein said protective material contains Nickel in an amount of 80% to 90% by weight.

27. The spark plug of claim 25 wherein said protective material includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium and wherein said at least one element is less than 50% by weight of said protective material.

28. The spark plug of claim 25 wherein said protective material contains greater than 5% by weight of said at least one element selected from the group consisting of Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, and Gold.

29. The spark plug of claim 25 wherein said base material includes one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Platinum, Chromium, Palladium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, and Rhenium, and wherein said at least one element is present in an amount of less than 40% by weight of said protective material.

30. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material comprising Nickel and Platinum and wherein said Platinum forms at least 90% of said protective material and wherein said protective material is diffused with said base material to form an alloy proximate to an outer surface of said spark portion, said alloy including said base material, Platinum, and Nickel.

31. The spark plug of claim 30 wherein said base material further includes Platinum and Nickel.

32. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material comprising Copper and Chromium.

33. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material contains greater than 50% by weight Platinum.

34. The spark plug of claim 33 wherein said protective material contains greater than 80% by weight Platinum.

35. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material contains 1% to 40% by weight Chromium.

36. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material contains 1% to 40% by weight Copper.

37. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material contains 1% to 40% by weight of a combination of Chromium and Copper.

38. The spark plug of claim 37 wherein said protective material contains 1% to 80% by weight Platinum.

39. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material contains 0.5% to 20% by weight Copper and 0.5% to 20% by weight Chromium.

40. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material includes Nickel.

41. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said protective material includes Nickel in addition to said at least one element selected from the group consisting of Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, Rhenium, Gold, Osmium, Iron, and Aluminum.

42. The spark plug of claim 32 wherein said base material is predominately Iridium, and said protective material includes an element selected from said group consisting of Platinum, Chromium and Nickel, said protective material forming an alloy with said Iridium base material proximate the surface of the spark portion.

43. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material formed from a first protective layer of Nickel and a second protective layer of Chromium and wherein said protective layers are at least partially diffused together and applied to said base material by electrolytic on non-electrolytic plating.

44. The spark plug of claim 43 further including protective layer of Copper between said protective layers of Nickel and Chromium.

45. The spark plug of claim 43 wherein said spark portion is heat treated to partially diffuse said protective material into said base material.

46. The spark plug of claim 43 wherein said spark portion is chemically treated to partially diffuse said protective material into said base material.

47. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode, and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material and wherein said protective material is initially formed from at least two distinct layers, the first layer being selected from the group consisting of Nickel, Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, Rhenium, and Gold-and the second layer being formed from an element which does not form said first layer and wherein said protective material is at least partially diffused into said base material to form an alloy layer of said base material and said protective material proximate the outer surface of the spark portion and wherein said base material and said protective material are partially diffused together during manufacture of the spark plug.

48. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material comprising at least two layers, the first layer being selected from the group consisting of Nickel, Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, Rhenium, Gold, and Aluminum, and the second layer being formed from an element which does not form said first layer wherein said two layers and said ground electrode are diffused together during the manufacturing of the spark plug to form an alloy area proximate to an outer surface of the spark portion, and wherein in said alloy includes said base material and said two elements forming the first and second layers are selected from the group consisting of Nickel, Copper, Chromium, Vanadium, Zirconium, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Ruthenium, Rhenium, Gold, and Aluminum.

49. A spark plug having a center electrode and a ground electrode and wherein at least one of said center electrode and said ground electrode comprise a spark portion including a base material including Iridium and a protective material and wherein said base material and said protective material are diffused together to form an alloy layer substantially proximate to the outer surface of the spark portion, and wherein said alloy layer moves from being primarily protective material near the outer surface to primarily base material within approximately 0.3 mm.

50. The spark plug of claim 49 wherein said protective material is applied as a layer having a thickness of less than 0.25 mm.

51. The spark plug of claim 49 wherein said protective material is diffused into the base material through heating.

52. The spark plug of claim 49 wherein said base material includes an outer base circumferential surface and wherein when said spark portion is heated above 530° C., the boundary between said base material and said protective material becomes a diffused alloy.

53. The spark plug of claim 49 wherein said base material includes an outer base circumferential surface and wherein when said spark portion is heated between approximately 760° C.-820° C. to diffuse the boundary between said base material and said protective material to form a diffused alloy of the base material and protective material.