Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies’ (Freudenberg-NOK) diverse portfolio of customers and products has allowed it to cross-fertilize industries by developing a new automotive use from traditional aerospace materials. The company now provides high temperature alloy (HTA) metal materials, originally developed and used by the aerospace industry, for use in its automotive Stamped Gaskets product division.
HTA, a family of alloys made from a high nickel content metal, possesses extreme temperature and fatigue cracking resistance, which is well suited for the current trend of engine downsizing and forced induction used to improve the performance of smaller engines.
Photo courtesy of Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies
“As a company working across many, diverse industries, we can borrow technology from one market and use it to innovate in another marketâ€?, said Charlie Spurrell, Lead Center Manager, Stamped Gaskets. “We saw the properties of HTA materials fit the needs of our automotive customers, so we were able to adapt the metals for our gaskets.â€? Application of HTA materials provides functional benefits including improved formed heights, better corrosion resistance, higher strengths and longer fatigue life over traditional stainless steel materials.
“Our largest OEM customer for stamped gaskets is adopting its first HTA embossed metal gasket into a worldwide production launch starting this yearâ€?, Spurrell said. The HTA gaskets are produced at Freudenberg-NOK’s Necedah, Wisconsin facility, where they are then shipped worldwide.
