New development of powder metallurgy in automotive industry

Abstract

The driving force for using powder metallurgy (PM) mostly relies on its near net-shape ability and cost-performance ratio. The automotive application is a main market of PM industry, requiring parts with competitive mechanical or functional performance in a mass production scale. As the automobile technology transforms from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles to new energy vehicles, PM technology is undergoing significant changes in manufacturing and materials development. This review outlines the challenges and opportunities generated by the changes in the automotive technology for PM. Low-cost, high-performance and light-weight are critical aspects for future PM materials development. Therefore, the studies on PM lean-alloyed steel, aluminum alloys, and titanium alloy materials were reviewed. In addition, PM soft magnetic composite applied to new energy vehicles was discussed. Then new opportunities for advanced processing, such as metal injection molding (MIM) and additive manufacturing (AM), in automotive industry were stated. In general, the change in automotive industry raises sufficient development space for PM. While, emerging technologies require more preeminent PM materials. Iron-based parts are still the main PM products due to their mechanical performance and low cost. MIM will occupy the growing market of highly flexible and complex parts. AM opens a door for fast prototyping, great flexibility and customizing at low cost, driving weight and assembling reduction.

Keywords

automotive / powder metallurgy / lean alloy / Al alloy / Ti alloy / metal injection molding, additive manufacturing

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