Metallurgical Aspects of Aluminum Power Driven Components

The demand for the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions to the atmosphere has made the transportation in general, and the automotive in particular, to look for the improvement of the aluminum alloys used in manufacture. Aluminum alloys are widely used for transportation due to their combination of low weight and high strength resulting from combining their chemical composition and heat-treating. This process takes place by holding the alloy at temperatures high enough for the alloying elements to dissolve into the matrix, the material is then cooled-down to room temperature at a rate fast enough for the alloying elements to remain in solution; strengthening occurs by aging, in which particles of different size, shape and nature, precipitate from the supersaturated matrix at either room temperature or above it. Design of modern power train components does not only rely in the mechanical properties of the alloy, but also on the changes that take in them through time. Phenomena associated with heat transfer within the combustion chamber are of interest to increase the power rating of the engines and reduce the risk for thermal fatigue and distortion. This work resumes the work being conducted to enhance the characteristics and properties of aluminum alloys used in power train applications.