Powder-Forged Connecting Rod Evaluation

Since 1986, more than 500 million powder forged (PF) connecting rods have been manufactured and installed in automobiles worldwide. The application of forging a preformed near-net shape consolidated from metal powder has been widely accepted since the early eighties and today is the preferred manufacturing technique for 60% of the connecting rods manufactured in North America. The remaining portion of the connecting rod market segment is produced by use of either conventional steel forging, or to a lesser extent, casting manufacturing processes. The powder forged (PF) rod is: fabricated by consolidating metal powders into a preform that is sintered, reheated to forging temperature (or in some cases forged subsequently to sintering), fully densified by forging to final shape, fracturing of the rod cap end, and then machined (minimally) to final dimensions.

While the two competing forging processes are similar, there are a number of subtle differences between the two. The forged steel rod is fabricated by starting with a wrought steel billet, heating the billet and forging it in the material's plastic temperature range, fracturing or cutting the rod cap end, and then machining portions of the product to realize the final dimensional characteristics of the component.