| abstract |
A piston production method produces an internal combustion engine piston. The method comprises forging a billet from an initial billet comprising an aluminum alloy that comprises silicon, intermetallic particles, and injected hardening particles, the forging is conducted under at least one of super-plasticity and hot deformation conditions; and heat treating the forged billet. The forging comprises forging at a temperature in a range from about 0.8 Tmelt to about 0.98 Tmelt. The forging also comprises forging at a STRAIN rate in a range from about 5x10-2 s-1 to about 5x10-5 s-1. The piston being formed with a configuration that enables other parts to be connected to the piston. The initial billet comprises at least one of: coarse grain silicon, intermetallic particles, and injected hardening particles having at least one of a lamellar, comprehensive shape, and fine grain silicon, intermetallic particles, and injected hardening particles being globular in shape. The silicon, intermetallic and injected hardening particle volume content is in a range from about 25 % to about 60 %, and an average grain size of the silicon, intermetallic, and injected hardening particles is less than about 15 νm2. |