High Temperature Creep Evolution in Al-Si Alloys Developed for Automotive Powertrain Applications: A Neutron In-Situ Study on hkl-Plane Creep Response

Recent trend in the automotive industry towards lightweighting and downsizing the powertrain components, without compromising the power output, have led to increased engine power density. Increased power density frequently requires these lighter components to operate in conditions of increased temperature and pressure, which is challenging for many aluminum alloys in use today in the powertrain manufacturing. Meeting the challenge requires not only improving high-temperature performance of known alloys or developing new ones, but also developing new advanced techniques to understand the long-term behaviour of the alloys.