Auburn Hills, Michigan-based GKN Sinter Metals recently won the grand prize in the automotive and transmission category at the Powdermet 2016 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials. The award was given for five components — a side gear, two pinion gears, a locking side gear, and a locking plate — comprising a forged powder metallurgy (PM) electronic locking differential gear set made for Ford Motor Company. The parts go into the rear axle differential of the Ford F-150 light truck, marking the first time that forged powder metal differential gears have been used in such an application. The higher performance delivered by the forged PM differential gears, compared to that of competing metal-forming processes, will help usher in downsized gear systems, satisfying a critical need in future automotive design.
Winners of the 2016 Powder Metallurgy Design Excellence Awards Competition, sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation — an international trade association for the metal powder producing and consuming industries — were announced at Powdermet 2016. Receiving grand prizes and awards of distinction, the winning parts are outstanding examples of powder metallurgy’s precision, performance, complexity, economy, innovation, and sustainability. They also show how customers from around the world are taking advantage of PM’s remarkable design advantages.
Shad Williams, quality engineer at GKN Sinter Metals; Dave Lenhart, RPPC manager; and Jacob Povrik, engineering supervisor for differential assemblies at Ford Motor Company accepted the award.
