The winners of the 2018 Powder Metallurgy Design Excellence Awards competition, sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation, were announced in June during Powdermet 2018, the International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials. Seven Grand Prizes and twelve Awards of Distinction were given in the 2018 competition.
The Grand Prize in the Automotive-Transmission Category was awarded to GKN Powder Metallurgy, England, for an aluminum powder metallurgy planetary reaction carrier, which it produced for General Motors. The carrier goes into the all-new GM 9T50 nine-speed transmission, offered in such vehicles as the Chevrolet Malibu and the Equinox crossover.
Made from a unique metal matrix composite aluminum alloy system and mated to an overdrive carrier, this first-of-its-kind two-piece design required extremely tight tolerances.
