Abstract
The A357-type (Al-Si-Mg) aluminum semi solid casting materials are known for their excellent strength and good ductility, which make them materials of choice, preferable in the manufacturing of automotive dynamic mechanical components. Semi-solid casting is considered as an effective technique for the manufacturing of automotive mechanical dynamic components of superior quality performance and efficiency. The lower control arm in an automotive suspension system is the significant mechanical dynamic component responsible for linking the wheels of the vehicle to the chassis. A new trend is to manufacture this part from A357 aluminum alloy due to its lightweight, high specific strength, and better corrosion resistance than steel. This study proposes different designs of a suspension control arm developed, concerning its strength to weight ratio. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate the effect of accelerating thermal aging treatments on the fatigue life of bending fatigue specimens manufactured from alloy A357 using the Rheocasting semi-solid technology. The results revealed that the multiple aging cycles, of WC3, indicated superior fatigue life compared to standard thermal aging cycles. On the other hand, the proposed designs of automotive suspension control components showed higher strength-to-weight ratios, better stress distribution, and lower Von-Mises stresses compared to conventional designs.
Highlights
A357-type aluminum (Al-Si-Mg) alloy is mostly known for its excellent strength and quality index value, and is widely used in various engineering applications, in the automotive industry [1,2,3,4]
Springs and dampers are responsible for the response of the vehicle under random excitations from different road conditions, while suspension linkages are the assemblies of mechanical components, linking the whole suspension system and transmitting forces to the chassis of the vehicle [5,6]
The results revealed a remarkable increase in the fatigue life of the WC3 thermal aging cycle compared to the standard
Summary
A357-type aluminum (Al-Si-Mg) alloy is mostly known for its excellent strength and quality index value, and is widely used in various engineering applications, in the automotive industry [1,2,3,4]. Springs and dampers are responsible for the response of the vehicle under random excitations from different road conditions (and they are the subjects of research in many automotive vibration studies), while suspension linkages are the assemblies of mechanical components, linking the whole suspension system and transmitting forces to the chassis of the vehicle [5,6]. Manufacturing this mechanical component from light metals helps with enhancing vehicle performance by decreasing the unsprung mass. Several studies indicate superior mechanical performance by using semi-solid
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