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Pistons are manufactured via a cast or forged technique. Some consider hypereutectic pistons to be the “third manufacturing technique”, but as they are actually a cast piston with physical properties that fall between cast and forged pistons due to their unique aluminum alloy.
Cast pistons are made by pouring melted aluminum into a mold that shapes the metal into a piston.
Forged pistons are formed using a giant press that takes a block of metal and pounds it into shape under thousands of tons of pressure. The tooling needed to do this is much more expensive than the tooling used to make a casting, and it wears out quicker. This makes forged pistons more costly. Forged pistons have inherent advantages in terms of density, ultimate strength, and durability. Forging eliminates metal porosity, improves ductility, and generally allows the piston to run cooler than a cast unit. Within reason, forgings can be lightened without adversely affecting structural integrity. However, forged pistons expand and contract more under changing temperatures, so they traditionally require greater piston-to-wall clearance than cast pistons. The manufacturing technique produces a metal slug, which is then CNC milled to produce the final piston shape.
Piston Alloys
With regard to cast piston, they generally use aluminum alloys doped with silicone. Aluminum silicon alloys used fall into three major categories: eutectic, hypoeutectic, and hypereutectic. Probably the easiest way to describe these categories is to use the analogy of sugar added to a glass of iced tea. When sugar is added and stirred into the iced tea it dissolves and becomes inseparable from the iced tea. If sugar is continuously added, the tea actually becomes saturated with sugar and no matter how much you stir, the excess sugar will not mix in and simply falls to the bottom of the glass in crystal form.
Silicon additions to aluminum are very similar to the sugar addition to the iced tea. Silicon can be added and dissolved into aluminum so it, too, becomes inseparable from the aluminum. If these additions continue, the aluminum will eventually become saturated with silicon. Silicon added above this saturation point will precipitate out in the form of hard, primary silicon particles similar to the excess sugar in the iced tea.
This point of saturation in aluminum is known as the eutectic and occurs when the silicon level reaches 12%. Aluminum with silicon levels below 12% are known as hypoeutectic (the silicon is dissolved into the aluminum matrix). Aluminum with silicon levels above 12% are known as hypereutectic (aluminum with 16% silicon has 12% dissolved silicon and 4% shows up as primary silicon crystals).
Pistons produced from these alloy categories each have their own characteristics. Hypoeutectic pistons usually have about 9% silicon. This alloy has been the industry standard for many years but is being phased out in favor of eutectic and hypereutectic versions. Most eutectic pistons range from 11% to 12% silicon.
Eutectic alloys exhibit good strength and are economical to produce. Hypereutectic pistons have silicon content above 12%. In addition to greater strength, scuff, and seizure resistance, the hypereutectic will improve groove wear and resist cracking in the crown area where operating temperatures are severe.
It is the primary silicon that gives the hypereutectic it’s thermal and wear characteristics. The primary silicon acts as small insulators keeping the heat in the combustion chamber and prevents heat transfer, thus allowing the rest of the piston to run cooler. Hypereutectic aluminum has 15% less thermal expansion than conventional piston alloys.
