Zinc alloy 8, a diecasting alloy with special relevance to underbonnet applications

Conventional zinc alloys have excellent net shape castability and a range of very useful mechanical and physical properties but their stressed application temperature is limited to a maximum of around 100% C. Recently a new alloy Alloy 8, has become available and allowed application temperatures to be increased by up to 30% C. The paper reiterates the results of research which quantifies the improvement in creep resistance and shows how these results can be utilised to help the designer. A number of application case studies from both inside and outside the motor industry are considered which demonstrate the practical use of the creep resistance improvement and prove the practicality of hot chamber diecasting the alloy.