Assembly In Action: Nylon Manifold Debuts on Light-Truck Engine
The component, developed over a 14-month period by a team from Ford Motor Co. (Detroit, MI), Montaplast of North America (Frankfort, KY) and DuPont Automotive (Troy, MI), significantly reduces costs compared with the original lost-core design.
The component was originally designed in thermoplastic for lost-core molding. However, the potential cost savings offered by vibration welding drove the change. With vibration welding, two thermoplastic parts are rubbed together under pressure and at a suitable frequency and amplitude until enough heat is generated to melt and mix the polymer. After vibration stops, the parts are aligned, and the molten polymer solidifies, creating the weld. The process has been used to manufacture air intake manifolds in Europe for the past 5 years and millions of other nylon 6,6 parts worldwide.