MAHLE manufactures high-quality valves for internal combustion engines at several production sites worldwide. Our program includes valves of diverse designs and types with stem diameters from 5 to 12 mm as well as valve lengths from 80 to 210 mm for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Thanks to the expert technical know-how, the high productivity and the outstanding quality of these products, MAHLE is one of the world's leading valve manufacturers today.

We employ state-of-the-art production technology as part of our large-volume production to ensure our quality standards. For example, we use plasma powder methods in the production of forgings or high-speed grinding methods for mechanical finishing. In order to make valves resistant to the high loads, our valves have reinforced seats, are hardened, chrome-plated or nitrided as needed. A wide range of materials is available for every application. For special applications with extreme demands, sodium-filled hollow valves are available to reduce thermal loads.

Not many components in engines are under as much load and tribological stress as valves and their associated parts. Tribology is the science of friction, lubrication and wear of bodies in relative motion. The greatest challenge is to determine the design of the valves. Our valves are designed for a wide variety of operating conditions in order to withstand extreme mechanical, chemical and thermal loads and to assure optimum heat dissipation. At temperatures up to 1472ºF, the red-hot exhaust valves strike the valve seats more than 70 times per second and must withstand the hot and corrosive exhaust gases that flow around them. At every valve lift, enormous acceleration forces and retractive forces occur due to the strong valve springs.

Together with valve seat inserts and valve guides, valves form a closed system, which has to withstand extreme loads and stresses. Therefore, we not only have valves in our program, but also their tribological partners, valve seat inserts and valve guides. The combined development of these products in one system allows us the advantage of optimizing wear characteristics and minimizing component costs.