Additive Manufacturing of High-performance Powertrain Components

Authors

F. Ickinger, M. Klampfl, Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG; V. Schall, D. Abele, Mahle International GmbH

Summary

The advanced development departments of Porsche, Mahle, and Trumpf carried out a collaborative project: high-performance powertrain components utilizing the potentials of additive manufacturing (AM), demonstrated by developing, producing and testing a piston for a 911 GT2 RS. According to the loads on the piston, a computer-aided topology optimization assists in shaping the structure while an added cooling gallery helps reduce the thermal loads. In comparison to the forged series part, the result shows a reduction of 20 K in the critical area as well as a mass reduction by 10 percent. The material of choice is a piston specific aluminum alloy developed by Mahle. Besides reaping the potentials of additive manufacturing the focus lies on assessing the development process, from topology optimized design up to quality assurance, for prototype parts as well as a (small) series production. Project partner Zeiss with its expertise in the measurement and inspection processes for additive manufacturing provided further support in quality assessment topics. To validate the use of additive manufacturing for high-performance powertrain components these innovative parts were tested on one of the most straining endurance test bench runs by Porsche. The conclusion: all pistons passed the test successfully. Furthermore, it is possible to shorten the procurement time for prototype pistons by about 30 percent by eliminating the tools required for cast pistons.

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