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Malleable and ductile cast irons are used extensively in automotive applications such as clutches, gears, carriers, shafts, bearings, cam, racers, hubs, etc. Recently developed P/M materials can be processed cost efficiently to replace malleable and ductile iron castings. An UTS in excess of 1240 MPa and a YS in excess of 825 MPa can be achieved with one of these new materials. These tensile properties can be coupled with elongations over 2% and impact energies over 25 Joules. This presentation will cover processing routes for these new materials and will identify parts that may benefit from this new technological advancement.

In the last several years, powder metallurgy (P/M) materials have been developed to rival the properties of cast iron and screw machined grades utilized in both automotive and non-automotive applications. These materials offer the P/M industry a momentous opportunity to dramatically increase its market by replacing some of the cast iron volume utilized today. While the inherent net shape capabilities of P/M and the potential cost savings of conversion to P/M offer customers distinct advantages, previous materials have not offered property combinations comparable to many cast iron grades. This work will explore the common grades of cast iron and propose P/M materials as possible replacements for each.

Recent demands within the automotive industry have been for applications requiring high hardness, high hardenability, and increased mechanical performance. These often conflicting requirements necessitated the development of new materials that offer high as-sintered hardness and good static/dynamic mechanical properties without the added expense of a secondary heat treatment. Traditionally, sinter-hardening materials have offered acceptable hardness but at the expense of mechanical properties and sintered density. This paper will document a series of sinter hardening materials that offer good compressibility, high hardness and enhanced mechanical properties. The discussion will focus on utilization of these materials in automotive applications (within both the engine and transmission) such as gears, cams and sprockets that are currently produced by either the press, sinter, and heat treat process or by conventional machining of a casting or wrought material.