Grede Holdings LLC is developing lightweight chassis, powertrain and drivetrain components, including safety-critical systems, for several OEM using a patented ductile iron alloy called SiboDur. Grede is showcasing SiboDur castings at Mid-America Trucking Show this week.
Grede says SiboDur is an ultra-high-strength ductile iron with a unique chemistry and process, which is providing customers strong value for achieving light weight, cost competitive solutions. As a result, Grede says parts made from the innovative alloy compete favorably with aluminum in terms of weight reduction, and offer exceptional value in durability, performance, as well as integration for complexity reduction.
“SiboDur enables us to provide our heavy-duty truck customers with cost-effective lightweight solutions, while maintaining high structural performance and durability,” says Jeff Nichols, director of business development at Grede. “It also enables excellent product design optimization capabilities given the higher mechanical properties versus competing materials that are cost inhibitive.”
Five different SiboDur alloys are available, each offering select chemistries that can improve fatigue strength and functional design optimizations to match the requirements of specific applications. To further maximize SiboDur’s capabilities, Grede says it is utilizing sophisticated topography and finite element analysis to create precise casting geometry to match the individual load case and stress strain vectors exactly where it is needed, to then effectively reduce mass and improve fatigue strength to our customers.
