FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN TEKNOLOGI

MEKANIKAL (PEMESINAN)(RY55)

PDT 111 : MANUFACTURING PROCESS

SEMESTER 1 2016/2017
STUDENTS NAME
MUHAMMAD MIFZAL IZZANI BIN MAZLAN
(121311262)
LECTURERS NAME
NIK MIZAMZUL BINTI MEHAT
DUE DATE
7 DISEMBER 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENT

PAGE

1.0 PROJECT OVERVIEW

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

1.2 MATERIAL
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2.0 PRODUCT

2.1 PRODUCT SELECTION

2.2 PROCESS

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2.2.1

Sand Casting

13

2.2.2

Machining

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2.2.3

Tooling

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3.0 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

4.0 CONCLUSION
5.0 REFERENCES

Introduction
The first successfully working internal combustion engine used in an automobile was built by
Siegfried Marcus in approximately 1864 . It was an upright single-cylinder, two-stroke
petroleum-fuelled engine that also utilized a carburetor to deliver fuel to the engine. The
engine was placed on a cart with four wheels and successfully ran under its own power. Not
only has Marcus produced the first engine that is the direct predecessor to todays engines, he

had also built the first automobile in history, some 20 years before Gottlieb Daimlers
automobile.
Todays engines are an integral component of an automobile that are built in a number of
configurations and are considerably more complex than early automotive engines.
Technological innovations such as electronic fuel injection, drive-by-wire (i.e., computercontrolled) throttles, and cylinder-deactivation have made engines more efficient and
powerful. The use of lighter and stronger engineering materials to manufacture various
components of the engine has also had an impact; it has allowed engineers to increase the
power-to-weight of the engine, and thus the automobile.
Common components found in an engine include pistons, camshafts, timing chains, rocker
arms, and other various parts. When fully stripped of all components, the core of the engine
can be seen: the cylinder block. The cylinder block (popularly known as the engine block) is
the strongest component of an engine that provides much of the housing for the hundreds of
parts found in a modern engine. Since it is also a relatively large component, it constitutes 2025% of the total weight of an engine . Thus there is much interest in reducing the blocks
weight.
Many early engine blocks were manufactured from cast iron alloys primarily due to its high
strength and low cost. But, as engine designs became more complicated, the weight of the
engine (and the vehicle) had increased. Consequently, the desire among manufacturers to use
lighter alloys that were as strong as cast irons arose. One such material that was being used as
a substitute was aluminium alloys. Used sparingly in the 1930s (due to problems with
durability) , aluminium alloy use in engine blocks increased during the 1960s and 1970s as a
way to increase fuel efficiency and performance. Together, these two metals were used
exclusively to fabricate engine blocks. As of late, however, a new material process has made
a magnesium alloy suitable for use in engines. The alloy, called AMC-SC1, weighs less than
both cast iron and aluminium alloys and represents new possibilities in engine manufacturing.
A new manufacturing process have made compacted graphite cast iron (CGI) a viable
alternative to gray cast iron for the manufacture of diesel engine blocks. Like magnesium
alloys, this material offers a higher strength and lower weight than gray cast iron.
There are thirteen parts in the engines as shown in Figure 1 below. We will discuss only block
engine part in the following paragraph. In this paper, manufacture engine blocks will be
discussed. The discussion of the component, its , the materials used and the manufacturing
process to manufacture the part are included.

Figure1: thirteen parts of the engines

Materials
Both conventional and diesel-fueled cylinder blocks are subjected to thermal strains,
aggressive wear conditions, and high fatigue stresses that an alloy must be able to endure.
Engineers must be able to select the proper material that meets the mechanical requirements
previously set. For example, the required mechanical properties for a typical aluminium
engine block includes an ultimate tensile strength of 245 MPa, yield stress of 215 MPa, and
fatigue strength of 60 MPa . Listed in the following sections are alloys that are current being
used to cast engine blocks and their mechanical properties.

Gray Cast Iron Alloys

Gray cast iron alloy have been the dominant metal that was used to manufacture conventional
gas-powered engine blocks. Though extensive use of aluminium alloys has diminished the
popularity of this material, it still finds wide use in diesel-fuelled blocks, where the internal
stresses are much higher. Gray cast iron alloys typically contains 2.5-4 wt.% carbon 6 and 1-3
wt.% silicon, 0.2-1.0 wt.% manganese, 0.02-0.25 wt.% sulphur, and 0.02-1.0 wt.%
phosphorus. It has excellent damping capacity, good wear and temperature resistance, is
easily machinable, and is inexpensive to produce. However, gray cast irons are relatively
weak and are prone to fracture and deformation. Due to these problems, compacted graphite
iron has recently begun to compete with gray cast iron as the choice material to produce
diesel engine blocks. Figure 2 shows the BMW S54 inline-6 used in their high performance
M3 coupe. It is interesting to note that the cylinder block for this engine is constructed from
gray cast iron, whereas the block for the BMW M54 engine, the basis of architecture of the
S54, was made of aluminium alloy. One possible reason why the S54 block was made from
gray cast iron was the need for a stronger material that could tolerate the higher performance
levels (the S54 produces 333 brake horsepower and has a maximum engine speed of 8000
rpm, whereas the M54 produces 184-225 brake horsepower with a maximum engine speed of
6500 rpm).

Figure 2: BMWs S54 inline-6 engine, which uses a gray cast iron engine block

Compacted Graphite Cast Iron

Compacted graphite cast iron (CGI), which was accidentally discovered while trying to
produce ductile cast iron, possesses higher tensile strength and elastic modulus than gray cast
iron due to the compacted graphite found on the microstructure of CGI. Table 1 shows the
comparison between the strengths and modulus of elasticity of gray cast iron and CGI. As
seen in Table 1, gray cast iron has a lower tensile strength than CGI, despite its higher weight.
Table 1: Comparison of tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of gray cast iron and
compacted graphite cast iron
Tensile strength, MPa
Modulus of elasticity, GPa

Gray cast iron

160-320

Compacted graphite cast iron

300-600

96-110

170-190

Like gray cast iron, compacted graphite cast iron has good damping capacity and thermal
conductivity, but its difficulty to machine has limited the wide-scale use of CGI. A new
manufacturing process, however, has opened the way for larger applications of CGI. The
development of rotary insert tools has increased the life of the tools used to machine the
metal, thus allowing manufacturers to use CGI without worrying about purchasing new tools.
Initial projections of 150,000 diesel engines produced (by Ford and Peugeot) per year are an
indication that manufacturers are embracing the use of CGI as the material to produce
cylinder blocks. Figure 3 shows Ford/Peugeots diesel engine that contains a block made of
compacted graphite cast iron.

Figure 3: Ford/Peugeots 2.7-liter V6 uses a cylinder block manufactured out of compacted

graphite cast iron

Aluminium Alloys
Aluminium alloy use has gained popularity since the 1960s as a way to reduce the overall
weight of the vehicle. There are two practical implications: improved performance-to-weight
ratio and increased fuel efficiency. The drawbacks of using aluminium in engine blocks are
that they are more expensive to manufacture than cast iron alloys. However, the strength-toweight ratio of aluminium alloys is hard to ignore, and manufacturing processes developed
throughout 8 the years have minimized the cost disparity between aluminium and cast iron.
There are two aluminium alloys that are mainly used in the manufacture of cylinder blocks:
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319 and A356. Aluminium alloy 319 has a composition of 85.8-91.5 wt.% aluminium, 5.5-6.5
wt.% silicon, 3-4 wt.% copper, 0.35 maximum wt.% nickel, maximum 0.25 wt.% titanium,
maximum 0.5 wt.% manganese, maximum 1% iron, maximum 0.1 wt.% magnesium, and
maximum 1 wt.% zinc. The alloy has good casting characteristics, corrosion resistance, and
thermal conductivity. When heat treated with the T5 process, it possesses high strength and
rigidity for engine block use. The LS1 engine of the 5th generation Chevrolet Corvette (19972004) is an example of an engine that utilizes aluminium alloy 319-T5 as its block, shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4: The Chevrolet Corvette LS1 V8 engine which utilizes an aluminium alloy 319-T5
cylinder block.
Aluminium alloy A356 has a composition of 91.1-93.3 wt.% aluminium, 6.5-7.5 wt.%
silicon, 0.25-0.45 wt.% magnesium, and maxima of 0.2 wt.% copper, 0.2 wt.% titanium, 0.2
wt.% iron, and 0.1 wt.% zinc. Mechanical properties are similar to that of aluminium alloy
319. However, when heat treated with a T6 treatment, it possesses higher strength than 319.
Table 2 compares the tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of both alloys. Note the lower
elastic modulus of A356-T6 compared to that of 319-T5. Figure 3 demonstrates an example
of an engine using A356-T6 for its block.
Table 2: Comparison of strength and elastic modulus of aluminium alloys 319-T5 and A356T6
Tensile strength, MPa
Modulus of elasticity, GPa

Aluminium alloy 319-T5

178
74

Aluminium alloy A356-T6

215
72.4

Figure 5: General Motors inline-5 engine which uses aluminum alloy A356-T6 as its engine
block.
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Magnesium Alloys

Magnesium alloys have been used in engines before, but not for cylinder blocks. Rather, they
were used as valve covers, cylinder head covers, intake manifolds, rocker arm covers, air
intake adaptors, induction systems, and accessory drive brackets. The biggest attraction for
manufacturers is that the material is much lighter than cast iron and aluminium alloys and has
the same strength as cast iron and aluminium alloys. Material scientists and engineers were
determined to exploit these characteristics of magnesium alloy and use it to fabricate engine
blocks. There were a number of magnesium alloys available that met or exceeded the
requirements demanded by manufacturers for an engine block, but insufficient material
stability at high temperatures hindered their actual use. However, in 2003 material scientists
and engineers from the Cooperative Research Center for Cast Metals Manufacturing and the
Australian Magnesium Corporation presented their discovery of sand-cast AMC-SC1
magnesium alloy. This grade of magnesium alloy contains two rare earth elements,
lanthanum and cerium, and was heat-treated with T6. This stabilizes the strength of the alloy
at high engine operating temperatures, which is a necessary requirement for a cylinder block
material. Bettles et al. had performed experiments to determine the yield and creep strengths
of AMC-SC1 and their results are shown in Table 3. From Table 3, the most significant point
is that the yield strength of AMC-SC1 essentially stays the same at 177C as it does at room
temperature. This means that the material is able to tolerate a wide range of operating
temperatures without a loss in strength. Other properties of the magnesium alloy 10 include
good thermal conductivity, excellent machining and casting qualities, and excellent damping
characteristics.

To demonstrate the significant weight savings of magnesium alloy over cast iron and
aluminium alloy, consider BMWs inline-6 R6 (shown in Figure 6), which replaced the
companys M54 aluminium engine. Its cylinder block is made of AMC-SC1 and is said to
have decreased the weight of a comparably-built gray cast iron and aluminum alloy block by
57% and 24%. So far, BMW is the only company to have used magnesium alloy cylinder
blocks in production vehicles. But, with a significant weight advantage over the current
alloys used today and negligible increase in cost, other manufacturers will begin to consider
the use of AMC-SC1 and possibly other grades of magnesium alloys for engine blocks.

Table 3: Yield and creep strengths of magnesium AMC-SC1 at room temperature, 150C, and
177C.
Yield strength, MPa
Creep strength, MPa

Room temperature (24C)

120
-

150C
116
120

177C
117
98

Figure 6: BMWs 6-cylinder R6 powerplant uses a magnesium alloy AMC-SC1-fabricated

cylinder block.

PRODUCT
PRODUCT SELECTION
What is an engine block?
An engine block is the core of the engine which houses nearly all of the components required
for the engine to function properly. The block is typically arranged in a V, inline, or 4
horizontally-opposed (also referred to as flat) configuration and the number of cylinders
range from either 3 to as much as 16. Figure 7 shows engine blocks with V, inline, and
horizontally-opposed configurations.

Figure 7: Cylinder blocks in V, inline, and horizontally-opposed configurations.

Processes
Sand Casting
Sand casting process combines a bunch of different manufacturing techniques from rapid
prototyping (commonly called printing), casting and machining. A mold into which the
molten metal will be poured to make the engine block must be made. It has outer walls that
define the shape of the outside of the block, and it has cores that define the shape of the
internal cavities of the part. These are made out of sand that is held together with a binder
material. The way these are made these days is to use a laser-sintering process. A computer9

controlled laser hardens a thin layer of sand in the shape that is required for the core or mold
part. Then a fresh layer of sand and binder is deposited onto the just-hardened layer and the
laser makes another pass, building up the part layer-by-layer.

Sand cores for the engine block

Above you can see a variety of the sand cores and molds that were used for our engine
block/head. Basically, you need to have sand filling up all the spaces where you do not want
metal. Building the mold is kinda like building a negative of the engine. All the cores are
assembled together.

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Special coatings are sprayed on to improve the surface finish of the metal and ensure that
sand does not stick to it.

The cores you see assembled here will be passages within the engine block. Some of these
passages will be to allow the air to flow through the engine as needed. Some will be for
coolant to flow through making sure the engine does not get too hot.

There is a last piece that goes on top of the assembly you see above but unfortunately I do not
have a picture of the whole mold ready for pouring. In designing the mold, special care
needs to be taken that the molten metal will be able to fill up all the gaps completely,
allowing air to escape through vents as more metal is poured in.
After the metal cools and hardens, all the sand gets broken up and cleared away, leaving just
the metal part!

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That part is closely inspected using 3D scanners to ensure dimensional tolerances were
maintained and x-ray scanners to make sure there are no internal cracks or other problems
that cannot be seen from the outside.
Next the part is put in to computer-controlled machining centers.
Machining
Here the block components undergo various cutting, milling, drilling, boring, honing and
reaming operations. The layout of the Machining Lines is extremely compact, with Computer
Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines achieving consistent high-precision results.
Although the machines have a number of automatic test features, Honda associates still carry
out manual checks at every stage to ensure a consistent level of quality is maintained.
Tooling
Associates who work in Tooling maintain and control all the specialist cutting tools used
within both head and block machining.

Advantages and Disadvantage

Sand Casting

ADVANTAGES
Facilitates complex shape

Allows hollow parts

DISADVANTAGES
Tooling lead time is long

Tooling cost is high

Allows use of hard metal

Machining
ADVANTAGES
Short lead time

No tooling cost
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DISADVANTAGES
Difficult to use hard metal

High material waste

Design changes are quick

Complex shape are difficult

Extrusion
ADVANTAGES
Very fast cycle time capabilities

DISADVANTAGES
Limited to monolayer applications

Simple machine motion since

Primary materials are HDPE

clamps do not move

Difficult to parison program

Relative low cost per cavity

Conclusion
Many process a used to produce parts and shape. There is usually more than one method of
manufacturing a part from a given material. However, we need to know that the method of
producing this part may differ for different manufacturer. Also, we need to know that
manufacturing process of part keep changing because new technology showing up and a good
method to produce one part may not be a good method tomorrow since technology keeps
improving.
In doing this project, we have learned the various possible process to produce a part. It all
depends on the manufacturer and also the material used. This project give us a opportunity to
experience the decision making on which process is more suitable to use for manufacturing
each part that have different quality requirement and usage.

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REFERENCES
Website:
https://www.hondamanufacturing.co.uk/our_plants/engine-manufacturing/
https://motivengines.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/sand-casting-the-engine-block/
http://www.moderncasting.com/archive/WebOnly/1102/AL1102.asp.
http://www.bmwworld.com/engines/s54.htm.
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsDoT2oVQUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr4_B9EXWSo

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