Nano-crystalline P/M aluminium for automotive applications

The reduction of total vehicle weight and lowering of moving masses within the engine are key elements to overcome future emission challenges of the automotive industry. Within a German BMBF funded project the melt spinning technology will be driven to a series production status. The very fast cooling condition of the melt leads to a nano-structure of the aluminium material. This results in new material properties of known alloys. The strength increases dramatically without lowered forming behaviour. With this process the freedom of designing complex alloys is very flexible. Different alloys have been investigated for several applications, where high strength at room and elevated temperatures and/or high wear resistance is required. This paper presents some results regarding the processing, microstructure and mechanical properties of a developed Al-Ni-Fe alloy. This joined research project with partners from the automotive industry as well as automotive suppliers and universities is funded by the German BMBF "NanoMobile" Program under Project number 03X3008.