Production of A357 motor mount bracket by the metal compression forming process

The use of aluminum alloy castings for safety critical structural components such as engine mount brackets, steering knuckles, and control arms, offers significant opportunities for achieving weight reduction in automobiles, since they are typically about half the weight of the steel, cast iron, or ductile iron component that they replace. Metal Compression Forming (MCF) is a variant of the squeeze casting process, in which molten metal is allowed to solidify under pressure in order to close porosity and form a sound part. However, the MCF process applies pressure on the entire mold face, thereby directing pressure on all regions of the casting and producing a uniformly sound part. The process is capable of producing parts with properties close to those of forgings, while retaining the near net shape, complexity in geometry, and relatively low cost of the casting process. The paper describes the casting process development involved in the production of an aluminum A357 alloy motor mount bracket, including the use of a filling and solidification model to design the gating and determine process parameters. Tensile properties of the component are presented and correlated with those of forged components. Limited fatigue properties obtained by fully reversed strain controlled testing are also presented