Development of Sinter-Forge materials and processing technologies for the industrial manufacture of automotive components

Sinter-forging (SF) is a near-net-shape manufacturing technology that affords high material utilization rates, tight dimensional tolerances, complex product geometries, minimal energy consumption, and maximized mechanical properties. As these traits present favourable techno-economics, this sophisticated approach has been utilized extensively in the cost-effective fabrication of high performance automotive components for nearly five decades. While highly successful, all commercialized SF technologies are presently restricted to the processing of heavy ferrous powders alone. This limitation presents challenges in many automotive scenarios given the recent push towards vehicle light weighting. In this sense, there is a clear global preference for the utilization of light metal alloys as these represent an important means to reduce vehicular weight thereby improving fuel economy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. To address this technological gap, academics from Dalhousie University and the University of Manitoba will collaborate with engineers at GKN Sinter Metals and the federal research facility CanmetMaterials to develop industrial SF technologies specifically designed for aluminum-based powders. In doing so, autonomous advances developed by the team in prior initiatives will now be unified so as to commission an entirely new family of novel aluminum-based materials specifically designed for SF technology. Focal areas of research will include the optimization of alloy chemistry, the incorporation of ceramic particulates, thermo-mechanical working, material characterization, and industrial-scale SF operations. The net result will be a completely new paradigm of light weight SF materials and processes designed for immediate industrial deployment. This will enable GKN to commercialize a new frontier of automotive components in Canada with a cascading impact on the Canadian automotive sector at large via gains at OEMs that implement the outcomes (enhanced performance, improved profitability, reduced emissions) and the array of Canadian companies that supply GKN with the raw materials and processing equipment that will be needed to accommodate the associated increase in production capacity.