Application of P/M Aluminum Parts – Materials and Processing Schemes  (469KB)
Patrice Delarbre and Michael Krehl
2000 Int. Conf. On P/M Aluminum and Light Alloys for Automotive Applications, Detroit

With the ongoing trend to weight savings in automobiles, the application of light alloys is increasing. P/M aluminium is ideally suited to fulfill the requirements of light weight and near net shape, i.e. no or little waste in the manufacturing of structural parts. In this paper several applications of P/M aluminium in chassis and powertrain (e.g. pulleys, sprockets, shock absorber parts) are presented. Alloys and processing schemes are discussed in view of desired mechanical properties, wear resistance and dimensional accuracy. A comparison between the process of P/M aluminium and conventional P/M steel gives an impression of the cost situation of aluminium parts.