• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.52-59
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• 2012

The subframe has been generally manufactured by using stamped steel material. Recently, automotive designers are considering aluminum as lightweight material. This paper describes the development process of an aluminum subframe which is made by high level vacuum die casting process, which is beneficial for minimizing gas contents and material properties. The weight of manufactured subframe is reduced by 4kg with the comparison of steel subframe. The aluminum subframe is packaged for the current vehicle layout and the imposed requirement is to attain a better structural performance that is evaluated in terms of mounting stiffness, noise and vibration, and endurance performance. The NVH evaluation results show that sound level is decreased by 8dB with the help of high roll-rod mounting stiffness as well as high structural modes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.121-127
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• 2024

We investigate the effect of T6 heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA365 (Al-10.3Si-0.37Mg-0.6Mn-0.11Fe, wt.%) alloy fabricated by vacuum-assisted high pressure die casting by means of thermodynamic calculation, X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and tensile tests. The as-cast alloy consists of primary Al (with dendrite arm spacing of 10~15 ㎛), needle-like eutectic Si, and blocky α-AlFeMnSi phases. The solution treatment at 490 ℃ induces the spheroidization of eutectic Si and increase in the fraction of eutectic Si and α-AlFeMnSi phases. While as-cast alloy does not contain nano-sized precipitates, the T6-treated alloy contains fine β' and β' precipitates less than 20 nm that formed during aging at 190℃. T6 heat treatment improves the yield strength from 165 to 186 MPa due to the strengthening effect of β' and β' precipitates. However, the β' and β' precipitates reduce the strain hardening rate and accelerate the necking phenomenon, degrading the tensile strength (from 290 to 244 MPa) and fracture elongation (from 6.6 to 5.0%). Fractography reveals that the coarse α-AlFeMnSi and eutectic Si phases act as crack sites in both the as-cast and T6 treated alloys.