Materials

Federal-Mogul plans for the future with new diesel piston design Federal-Mogul has developed an innovative aluminum piston design that can reliably withstand the mechanical and thermal loads produced by heavily boosted engines, thereby enhancing diesel engine performance. Read full story

Convincing faux-leather interior door panel skins are plastic 2010 Taurus SHO doors feature spray polyurethane skins that mimic hand-wrapped leather down to the surface, stitching, and draping details. Read full story

MMC brake drum 45% lighter than cast iron Lightweighting is a goal not just for light vehicles, as the folks at Century Inc. will gladly tell you. Its Advanced Materials Division has developed an aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) manufacturing technology, along with a demonstrator brake drum for heavy trucks that weighs 38.5 lb (17.5 kg) and is interchangeable with standard cast iron drums weighing 70 lb (32 kg). Read full story

Alcoa fastener a lightning-strike fighter The Alcoa fastener conforms to machine-induced micro texture inherent in fastener holes drilled in composite material, reducing the likelihood of electrical arcing in a lightning strike. A paper describing Alcoa’s solution, and the testing that led to it, will be presented at the SAE 2009 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition Nov. 10-12 in Seattle. Read full story