[AT] IH aluminum-ferrous alloy exhaust manifold castings

[James Peck]

Around 1968 I was taking an introductory Material Science course at a university. The text said that aluminum-iron alloys were not viable.

Around 1977 I was in a Cleveland area R&D lab as an employee of a construction company installing some industrial equipment. I observed a technician putting some aluminum ingots into a nifty electrically heated crucible of molten ferrous metal and asked about the process. I discussed the alloy. I was told that International Harvester was using the alloy in exhaust manifolds. The alloy manifolds would resist cracking better than iron but were tougher to machine.

I do not know if the aluminum-ferrous alloy manifold were being used in trucks or tractors or both. I am guessing the alloy was still magnetic.

We learned to use hardness testers in the lab. This issue surfaced years later when I working in hot stampings. Hot Stampings were tested for hardness and tensile strength. Specimens were cut out of good parts with a hand held plasma arc torch, deburred with a grinder, then stacked together and milled into the test shape. They would then be put into the tensile tester.
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