Propelling Auto Parts Innovation
The Core Status and Far-reaching Influence of Castings in the Field of Automobile Parts
I. The Cornerstone of the Field of Automobile Parts: The Wide Application of Castings
Castings, as key basic components in the automotive industry, are applied in all important systems of automobiles. In the automotive engine system, core components such as engine blocks, cylinder heads, crankshafts, and pistons all rely on casting processes for shaping. Taking EATHU as an example, with its advanced casting technology and rich experience, it provides high-quality engine block castings for numerous automobile brands. The engine block, serving as the framework of the engine, bears the installation and coordinated operation of numerous parts. Its complex internal structure and high strength requirements make casting an ideal manufacturing method. The precise casting process adopted by EATHU can ensure the precise formation of oil and water channels inside the block, providing a powerful guarantee for the efficient operation of the engine. The cylinder head is responsible for sealing the cylinders and forming the combustion chamber while accommodating the intake and exhaust ports as well as various valve mechanisms. EATHU's investment casting technology can make the cylinder head obtain good sealing performance and smooth air flow in the ports, effectively improving the performance of the engine. The crankshaft, as the power transmission hub of the engine, withstands huge torsional and bending stresses. EATHU optimizes casting materials and processes and combines them with subsequent heat treatment and machining processes to endow the crankshaft with excellent comprehensive mechanical properties to meet the stringent requirements for long-term stable operation. Pistons reciprocate in the high-temperature and high-pressure environment of the cylinders. The aluminum alloy pistons cast by EATHU, with their good thermal conductivity, low density, and appropriate strength, effectively improve the thermal efficiency and power performance of the engine.
The transmission system of automobiles also cannot do without the support of castings. Components such as transmission housings, clutch housings, and differential housings need to possess sufficient strength and stiffness to accommodate and protect the internal transmission components like gears and shafts and ensure precise transmission under different working conditions. The housing castings manufactured by EATHU can effectively reduce noise and vibration and improve the reliability and durability of the transmission system through reasonable structural design and optimization of the casting process. For example, the high-pressure casting process it adopts can make the wall thickness of the transmission housing more uniform and the dimensional accuracy higher, thus improving the shift accuracy and overall performance of the transmission.
In the chassis system of automobiles, castings such as steering knuckles, wheel hubs, and brake drums play important roles. The steering knuckle, as a key component connecting the wheels and the suspension system, directly affects the steering performance and driving stability of the automobile. EATHU's high-precision casting and strict quality control are important links in ensuring driving safety. The wheel hub not only has to bear the weight of the vehicle and various loads during driving but also needs to have good heat dissipation performance. The aluminum alloy wheel hubs cast by EATHU have been widely used in modern automobiles due to their lightweight and heat dissipation advantages. The brake drum is an important part of the automobile braking system. Through the casting process, it can obtain good friction performance and thermal stability to ensure efficient and reliable braking of the automobile.
In addition, some brackets, connecting rods and other components in the automobile suspension system are also often manufactured by casting processes. On the premise of ensuring strength and stiffness, these castings can achieve complex shapes and structures according to the design requirements of the suspension system, providing good ride comfort and handling stability for automobiles. EATHU utilizes the flexibility of its sand casting process to quickly respond to the customized needs of different suspension system components, providing powerful support for the optimization of the automobile suspension system.
II. Castings Endow Automobile Parts with Excellent Performance
(I) The Perfect Combination of High Strength and Durability
The casting process enables automobile parts to obtain excellent strength and durability. Taking the engine block as an example, EATHU selects appropriate casting materials, such as high-strength cast iron or aluminum alloy, and adopts advanced casting technologies, such as high-pressure casting, low-pressure casting or investment casting, to effectively control the internal structure and defects of the casting, making it possess good compressive, tensile and fatigue resistance properties. During the long-term high-speed operation of the engine, the block can withstand the repeated impacts of high-temperature and high-pressure gas and mechanical vibrations without being easily deformed or damaged, thus ensuring the reliable operation and long service life of the engine. Similarly, castings such as steering knuckles and wheel hubs in the automobile chassis system can always maintain a stable working state in the face of complex and changeable road conditions and frequent load impacts, relying on their high strength and good toughness, providing a solid guarantee for the safe driving of automobiles. EATHU's strict control of the casting process and the improvement of its quality inspection system further ensure the high strength and durability of these automobile part castings. For example, in the process of wheel hub casting, EATHU adopts a special heat treatment process to achieve the best balance between the strength and toughness of the wheel hub, effectively improving its impact resistance and service life.
(II) The Realization of Complex Shapes and Precise Structures
Automobile parts often have complex shapes and precise internal structures, and the casting process has unique advantages in this regard. For example, the shapes and sizes of the intake and exhaust passages inside the engine cylinder head directly affect the intake efficiency and exhaust smoothness of the engine, and then affect the power and torque output of the engine. EATHU can precisely manufacture cylinder head castings with complex air passage shapes and smooth inner surfaces through precision casting processes such as investment casting, effectively improving the performance of the engine. In the investment casting process, EATHU utilizes high-precision mold making and advanced wax pattern forming technologies to ensure the shape accuracy and surface quality of the air passages, thus improving the combustion efficiency of the engine. Another example is that the transmission housing needs to accommodate multiple gears and shafts inside and ensure their precise meshing and transmission. The casting process can form a housing with a complex inner cavity structure in one step, and through subsequent processing processes, ensure the dimensional accuracy and surface quality of each installation position and mating surface to meet the requirements of high-precision transmission of the transmission. EATHU uses CNC machining centers and precision measuring equipment to conduct high-precision machining and inspection on the transmission housing, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of its internal structure.
(III) The Synergistic Effect of Lightweight and Performance Optimization
With the increasing emphasis on energy conservation and emission reduction in the automotive industry, the lightweight of automobile parts has become a development trend. Castings can achieve lightweight while taking into account performance optimization. The wide application of aluminum alloy castings in automobiles is a typical example. Aluminum alloy has the advantages of low density, relatively high strength, and good thermal conductivity. Using aluminum alloy to cast components such as engine blocks, cylinder heads, and wheel hubs can significantly reduce the weight of automobiles, reduce the energy consumption and emissions of the whole vehicle. In the production of aluminum alloy castings, EATHU optimizes alloy compositions and casting processes to further improve the strength and stiffness of aluminum alloy castings, enabling them to still meet the performance requirements of automobile parts while reducing weight, achieving the coordinated development of lightweight and performance optimization. For example, a new aluminum alloy formula developed by EATHU can increase the strength of the engine block by 15% and reduce its weight by 10% while ensuring good casting performance, effectively improving the power-to-weight ratio and fuel economy of the engine.
III. Diversified Material Choices for Automobile Part Castings
(I) Cast Iron: A Classic and Reliable Material
Cast iron is a commonly used traditional material in automobile part casting, with the advantages of low cost, good casting performance, relatively high strength, and good wear resistance. Gray cast iron is widely used in the manufacturing of components such as engine blocks and cylinder heads due to its good vibration damping and machinability. For example, the engine blocks of some economy cars are cast with gray cast iron, which can effectively control production costs while ensuring basic performance. EATHU has rich experience in gray cast iron casting. By strictly controlling the chemical composition of molten iron and casting process parameters, it ensures the stable quality of gray cast iron engine blocks. Ductile cast iron has higher strength and toughness, and its comprehensive performance is close to that of steel. It is widely used in components such as crankshafts, wheel hubs, and brake drums of automobiles. Through appropriate heat treatment and alloying of ductile cast iron, EATHU can further improve its mechanical properties to meet the usage requirements of automobile parts under different working conditions. For example, the ductile cast iron crankshaft produced by EATHU has significantly improved strength and toughness after special isothermal quenching treatment, enabling it to withstand higher engine output torque and improving the reliability and durability of the engine.
(II) Aluminum Alloy: The First Choice for Lightweight
Aluminum alloy occupies an important position in modern automobile part casting. As mentioned earlier, the low density characteristic of aluminum alloy makes it an ideal material for achieving automobile lightweight. Different series of aluminum alloys, such as aluminum-silicon alloy, aluminum-copper alloy, and aluminum-magnesium alloy, have different performance characteristics and can be selected according to the specific needs of automobile parts. Aluminum-silicon alloy has good casting performance and moderate strength and is often used to manufacture large and complex castings such as engine blocks and cylinder heads. EATHU utilizes its advanced low-pressure casting process to produce high-quality aluminum-silicon alloy engine blocks and cylinder heads, improving the density and mechanical properties of the castings while ensuring good casting performance. Aluminum-copper alloy has relatively high strength and heat resistance and is suitable for manufacturing some automobile parts that work in high-temperature environments, such as pistons. In the manufacturing of aluminum-copper alloy pistons, EATHU precisely controls alloy compositions and casting processes to ensure the stability and reliability of the pistons in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. Aluminum-magnesium alloy, with its excellent lightweight effect and good corrosion resistance, has broad application prospects in automobile wheel hubs and body structural parts. A new aluminum-magnesium alloy wheel hub developed by EATHU is not only lightweight, has good heat dissipation, but also has good corrosion resistance and appearance quality, and is favored by many automobile manufacturers.
(III) Magnesium Alloy: An Emerging Lightweight Material
As a metal material lighter than aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy has gradually attracted attention in the field of automobile part casting in recent years. Magnesium alloy has the advantages of low density, high specific strength, and good vibration damping. Its application in automobiles mainly focuses on some components with extremely strict requirements on weight, such as steering wheel skeletons, seat skeletons, and engine brackets. However, the casting process of magnesium alloy is relatively complex, the cost is relatively high, and its corrosion resistance is poor, so special protective measures need to be taken. EATHU actively invests in the research and development of magnesium alloy casting technology and continuously explores new casting processes and surface treatment technologies for magnesium alloy through cooperation with scientific research institutions. For example, EATHU adopts the vacuum die casting process to produce magnesium alloy steering wheel skeletons, effectively reducing defects such as pores and shrinkage cavities in the castings and improving the quality and strength of the castings. At the same time, a new magnesium alloy surface coating technology developed by EATHU significantly improves the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy components, laying the foundation for the wider application of magnesium alloy in automobile parts. With the continuous progress of casting technology and the gradual reduction of costs, the application of magnesium alloy in automobile parts is expected to be further expanded.
(IV) Other Materials: Meeting Special Needs
Besides cast iron, aluminum alloy, and magnesium alloy, some special metal materials or composite materials are also applied in automobile part casting. For example, in the braking systems of high-performance sports cars or racing cars, titanium alloy is sometimes used to cast brake calipers. Titanium alloy has the advantages of high strength, low density, high temperature resistance, and corrosion resistance and can provide excellent performance under extreme braking working conditions. EATHU has the technical ability to cast titanium alloy and can customize high-performance titanium alloy brake calipers for high-end automobile brands. In addition, some ceramic-based composite materials or metal-based composite materials have also been tried to be used to manufacture high-temperature parts of automobile engines, such as turbocharger blades. These composite materials have excellent high-temperature performance and wear resistance, but at present, their costs are relatively high and they have not been widely used in the manufacturing of ordinary automobile parts. EATHU pays attention to the development trends of composite materials in the field of automobile parts and actively conducts relevant research and development and test work to make technical reserves for the innovative development of future automobile parts.
IV. Advanced Casting Processes Create High-Quality Automobile Parts
(I) High-Pressure Casting: A Model of Efficient Production and High Precision
High-pressure casting is a casting process widely used in the manufacturing of automobile parts. Its principle is to quickly inject liquid metal into the mold cavity under high pressure for shaping. This process has the advantages of high production efficiency, high dimensional accuracy of castings, and good surface quality, and is especially suitable for mass production of automobile parts with complex shapes and thin walls, such as aluminum alloy engine blocks, cylinder heads, and transmission housings. In the high-pressure casting process, EATHU can effectively reduce defects such as pores and shrinkage cavities in castings and improve the density and mechanical properties of castings by precisely controlling process parameters such as pressure, speed, and temperature. For example, EATHU adopts a real-time monitoring system to precisely control the pressure and temperature in the high-pressure casting process to ensure that the filling process of the liquid metal in the mold cavity is stable and reliable, thus producing high-quality aluminum alloy engine blocks. Meanwhile, the design and manufacturing accuracy of high-pressure casting molds also have an important impact on the quality of castings. EATHU's advanced mold manufacturing technology can ensure the high precision of the mold cavity and good demolding performance, thus ensuring the dimensional accuracy and surface finish of the castings. EATHU has a professional mold design team and advanced mold processing equipment and can design and manufacture high-precision high-pressure casting molds according to the requirements of different automobile parts.
(II) Low-Pressure Casting: A Guarantee of Quality and Reliability
Low-pressure casting is a casting process in which liquid metal is filled into the mold cavity from bottom to top under relatively low pressure (generally 0.02 - 0.06MPa) and solidified and formed under certain pressure. This process is suitable for manufacturing automobile parts with relatively high quality requirements and relatively thick walls, such as wheel hubs and steering knuckles. The advantages of low-pressure casting lie in its ability to effectively control the filling speed and pressure of the liquid metal, make the liquid metal fill the cavity smoothly, reduce the generation of gas entrainment and oxide inclusions, and thus obtain castings with dense structures and excellent properties. In addition, the solidification sequence of castings in the low-pressure casting process can be controlled through the design of molds and the adjustment of process parameters, which is beneficial to reducing defects such as shrinkage cavities and porosity and improving the quality stability of castings. Compared with high-pressure casting, the equipment and process of low-pressure casting are relatively simple and the cost is lower, but its production efficiency is relatively low and it is suitable for small and medium batch production. EATHU has mature technology and rich experience in low-pressure casting. By optimizing mold design and process parameters, it can produce high-quality automobile parts such as wheel hubs and steering knuckles. For example, in the process of low-pressure casting of wheel hubs, EATHU adopts a special cooling system design to make the solidification process of the wheel hubs more uniform, effectively reducing defects such as shrinkage cavities and porosity and improving the quality and performance of the wheel hubs.
(III) Investment Casting: The First Choice for Precision and Complexity
Investment casting, also known as lost wax casting, is a high-precision casting process often used to manufacture automobile parts with extremely complex shapes and extremely high precision requirements, such as the air passages inside the engine cylinder head and turbocharger blades. The process flow of investment casting is relatively complex. First, a wax pattern identical to the shape of the casting needs to be made, and then multiple layers of refractory materials are coated on the surface of the wax pattern to form a shell. Next, the wax pattern is melted and drained to obtain a hollow shell, and finally, liquid metal is injected into the shell to cool and solidify for forming. Due to the high precision of wax pattern making and the good smoothness and air permeability of the shell, investment casting can produce high-precision castings with a dimensional accuracy within ±0.05mm and a surface roughness Ra value within 1.6 - 3.2μm. At the same time, investment casting is not limited by the complexity of the casting shape and can manufacture automobile parts with various complex internal structures and thin-wall features, but its process cost is relatively high and the production cycle is relatively long. It is generally used to manufacture products with extremely high precision and quality requirements, such as aerospace and high-performance automobile parts. EATHU, relying on its exquisite investment casting technology, can manufacture high-precision cylinder heads and turbocharger blades and other key components for automobile engines. In the investment casting process, EATHU adopts advanced wax pattern rapid prototyping technology and high-precision shell manufacturing process to ensure the precision and quality of the castings. For example, the investment casting parts of the engine cylinder head produced by EATHU have extremely high shape accuracy and surface quality of the air passages, effectively improving the performance of the engine.
(IV) Sand Casting: A Traditional and Flexible Process
Sand casting is one of the oldest and most commonly used casting processes and still has a wide range of applications in the manufacturing of automobile parts. The advantages of sand casting are that the raw materials are widely sourced, the cost is low, and the process is highly flexible, and it can adapt to the production of castings of various shapes and sizes. In the manufacturing of automobile parts, sand casting is often used to manufacture some large, single-piece or small-batch production components, such as the trial production of large engine blocks and the casting of automobile modification parts. The key to sand casting lies in the making of sand molds and the control of casting process parameters. By reasonably selecting the types and proportions of molding sand and adopting advanced molding processes, such as resin sand molding and lost foam molding, the strength, air permeability, and collapsibility of sand molds can be improved, and the defects of castings can be reduced. Meanwhile, in the casting process, according to the structural characteristics and material requirements of castings, optimizing the settings of pouring systems, risers, and chills can effectively control the solidification process of castings and improve the quality of castings. EATHU utilizes the flexibility of its sand casting process to quickly respond to the customized needs of automobile parts. For example, in the casting of automobile modification parts, EATHU can quickly manufacture special accessories of various shapes and sizes according to the requirements of customers by using the sand casting process to meet the diverse needs of the automobile modification market.