Paul, having been away for  a while I am curious.  Has anyone

explored AMMC?  It is molten

aluminum mixed with ceramic whiskers.  It is said the the aluminum

serves the same purose as

plastic matrix.  The resulting composite is much stronger than

either of the base materials

separately and exhibits a trememdous strength to weight

ratio.  Used in the Corvette as a

torque

tube and driveshaft?  Sounds interesting.

Lloyd

Sounds great. Is it lower density than aluminum? If so I will tell
my foundry about it. If it pours the same with  equal viscosity
as molten aluminum it might save some weight on these low stress
sand casting.

Paul Lamar

I found the article under "Exotic Materials Revisited" in a July 03 Kit

Car magazine.  They list a

place in Concord CA  and a gentleman by the name of Russ "resident

guru" (925-682-3340) who was

able to weld the material.  It is supposed to be able to be used in

race car driveshafts, pistons,

and disc brake rotors, so it sounds like it is bullet proof.  Must be

able to take extreme temps

as well.

Just an interesting material that GM is attempting to keep under

wraps.  The author said he

eventually found info on the web and after several phone calls he found

a readible available

welding process for AMMC.
Lloyd

Paul,

If AMMC is tough enough to use for brake rotors, maybe it would work for
side housings.  Just a thought.

Mark S.

That sounds interesting. Anybody using it for engine blocks with out iron liners?

Paul Lamar
 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.  Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            
Copyright 1998-2003 All world wide rights reserved.