GKN Sinter Metals won a grand prize

Powder Metal Parts Cut Costs
2011 design winners are announced at PowderMet2011 conference in San Francisco.
Doug Smock, Contributing Editor, Materials & Assembly -- Design News, May 20, 2011

GKN Sinter Metals of Auburn Hills, MI won a grand prize in an annual powder metal design competition for a carrier and one-way rocker clutch assembly made for Ford Motor. Designed for powder metal (PM), the assembly uses fewer components compared to alternate designs and manufacturing methods, reducing the mass of the assembly, improving fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance.
Photo shows the 2011 MPIF grand prize winners. The carrier and rocker assembly are in the third row. Source: MPIF Used in the new Ford Super Duty TorqShift six-speed automatic transmission, the hybrid assembly contains five powder steel parts weighing a total of 17 lb. The sinter-brazed subassembly consists of four multi-level PM parts, of which three parts (cage, spider, and carrier plate) are made to a density of 6.8 g/cm3. The rocker plate is sinter-hardened during the sinter- brazing phase and has a density of 7.0 g/cm3. The assembly also has a doubled-pressed and double-sintered cam plate made to 7.3 g/cm3 density with an ultimate tensile strength of 170,000 psi and a mean tempered hardness exceeding 40 HRC. To form the parts and maintain precision tolerances, special tooling was developed and used with unconventional press motions. Ford subjected the assembly to ultimate torsional torque loading at a minimum of 8,000 ft-lb and fatigue testing at a minimum of 299,000 cycles at 1,730 ft-lb. "The application provided an estimated 20 percent cost savings over competitive processes," according to a statement from the MPIF.GKN Sinter Metals won another grand prize in the automotive chassis category for a differential bearing adjuster made for American Axle & Manufacturing and used in the GMT 900 rear differential on GM Tahoe and Yukon models. ....MORE