Present state and future prospects of powder metallurgy parts for automotive applications

Since powder metallurgy (P/M) parts can be made without machining and with any alloy design, they have been widely used in automobiles. Automobile makers have been considering environmental protection, so the importance of the EV (electric vehicle) [J. Automotive Soc. Eng. Jpn. 51 (9) (1997) 30 (in Japanese)] and the HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) has become greater and greater. In this situation, the need to improve automotive P/M parts has been increasing in recent years. This paper describes the situation surrounding P/M parts and the automobile industry, focusing on the automobile industry’s need for P/M parts and the seeds of P/M parts technologies. The prospects of new P/M technology in designing parts for automobiles are also described.