Residual Stress Mapping in Solution Heat Treated Al Engine Blocks

Title of Project

Residual Stress Mapping in Solution Heat Treated Al Engine Blocks

Name of Advisor/s

Dr Greg Wheatley, A/Prof Dimitry Sediako (Uni of British Colombia)

College

College of Science & Engineering

Summary of Project

Lightweighting has become an important aspect in the design and production of automobiles due to strict government legislation on fuel economy. This has led to the implementation of light weight Al alloys for automotive applications such as engine blocks. However, Al alloy engine blocks are prone to the development of high tensile residual stress during production due to the interaction between Al and the gray cast iron cylinder liners. Heat treatment is an effective method of relieving tensile residual stress. As such, the development of an optimized heat treatment schedule is important to prevent potential problems such as in-service cylinder distortion. However, to effectively optimize the engine block heat treatment schedule, the current solutionizing parameters must be analyzed to establish a baseline for residual stress relief. As-cast samples have their residual stresses measured and these are compared to post heat treating residual stresses. Finite element analysis (FEA) will be used to simulate the various casting and heat treating processes.

Keywords

Heat treating, Residual Stress, finite element analysis (FEA)

Would suit an applicant who

has a sound academic background, research experience, an interest in mechanical engineering and strong experimental and computational skills.