Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Computational Design and Development of a New, Lightweight Cast Alloy for Advanced Cylinder Heads in High-Efficiency, Light-duty Engines

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1580717· OSTI ID:1580717
 [1];  [2]
  1. General Motors LLC, Warren, MI (United States); General Motors LLC
  2. General Motors LLC, Warren, MI (United States)

The objective of the collaborative multi-year Cast Lightweight Alloy program was to develop a new, lightweight, cast aluminum alloy for automotive engines with better high temperature properties than the incumbent alloys (B319, A356, A356+0.5Cu) to allow for more efficient engine operation. The program kicked off with the generation of alloy concepts and selecting alloy models with specific milestones for establishing property requirements, generating design concepts and selecting models for casting design. Following this, sub-scale prototypes of the promising design concepts were cast and characterized in order to validate the design concepts and develop data for subsequent model calibration and improvement. Using the calibrated models, a set of alloy designs were created. This first generation set of designs were validated through production and characterization of lab-scale castings. With the learnings from the lab-scale prototypes and the improvements in the computational models, final embodiment design of the new alloy was completed. The final alloy designs were cast at lab-scale and also at component-scale to characterize its final properties. An alloy recyclability analysis and cost modelling was also performed.

Research Organization:
General Motors LLC, Warren, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office
Contributing Organization:
QuesTek Innovations LLC; Northwestern Univ.; American Foundry Society; Camanoe Associates; Fred Major, Secat Inc.
DOE Contract Number:
EE0006082
OSTI ID:
1580717
Report Number(s):
DOE-GM--06082
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Comparative evaluation of cast aluminum alloys for automotive cylinder heads: Part II: Mechanical and thermal properties
Journal Article · Tue Mar 07 23:00:00 EST 2017 · Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. A, Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science · OSTI ID:1360031

Development of High-Performance Cast Crankshafts. Final Technical Report
Technical Report · Fri Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · OSTI ID:1349522

ICME Guided Development of Advanced Cast Aluminum Alloys for Automotive Engine Applications (ADAPA)
Technical Report · Thu Nov 29 23:00:00 EST 2018 · OSTI ID:1494555