Integrated Design Procedures for Volume Produced Cast Aluminium Automotive Components

摘要

A project has been undertaken in the UK to bring together automotive companies, foundries and modellers of the solidification process. The aim was to integrate this combined expertise to efficiently re-design a cast aluminium component, and in so doing develop a set of design procedures that could subsequently be applied to a range of other components. CAD, FEM stress analysis and casting simulation software were employed for this exercise. Mechanical testing of a bush-housing component redesigned with these procedures revealed a 36% increase in strength, a substantial improvement in fatigue life and a 5% reduction in weight.