Manufacturing a vibration damped light metal alloy part

摘要

A method of manufacturing a non-ferrous, light metal alloy vibration-damped part for a vehicle chassis includes introducing a polymer insert into a cavity formed in the part. The polymer insert may be introduced into the cavity by separately fabricating the polymer insert and then sliding or maneuvering the insert into the cavity or by injecting a liquid polymer material into the cavity and then solidifying and shrinking the liquid polymer material into the polymer insert. The vibration-damped light metal alloy part can damp vibrations that originate within or are imparted to the part when such vibrations effectuate relative contacting frictional movement between an exterior surface of the polymer insert and an interior surface of the cavity.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a vibration-damped, non-ferrous, light metal alloy part that, when installed in a chassis of a vehicle, is prone to vibration propagation and noise transmission during operation of the vehicle, the method comprising:
forming a cavity within a non-ferrous, light metal alloy part at a selected damping region, the cavity being delineated by an interior surface that is provided by either an internally exposed bulk surface of the light metal alloy part or a non-wettable coating overlying the internally exposed bulk surface, wherein the non-ferrous, light metal alloy part is constructed for installation on a chassis of a vehicle; and introducing a polymer insert into the cavity, the polymer insert being sized and shaped so that an exterior surface of the polymer insert can experience relative frictional contacting movement with the interior surface of the cavity when vibrations are imparted to the light metal alloy part at the selected damping region, the exterior surface of the polymer insert comprising a portion that lies against the interior surface of the cavity and a portion that is separated from the interior surface by a gap.