Aluminum really inferior for tractors???

[Volfandt]

I've seen many a crack and break in cast iron. Front axlw housings, broken TE30 and 8N 3PH's, engine blocks and fe DWV to name a few. Cracks are not limited to aluminum....

Temps can run as high as 100 degrees higher than the ambient outside temp in HST's so a cast aluminum HST would be more condusive to dissapateing heat than one made of cast iron.

Corrosion can and will wreak havoc in cast iron.

An aircraft will not be able to defeat gravity if it was constructed with cast iron and the cost's would be in the billions to keep them corrsion free if they could

Other materials in an aircraft are also routingly inspected for stress cracks, the steel landing gear rods and the composits used in framing come to mind...

The highest performance internal combustion engines in use today utilize much more cast aluminum than cast iron in the most stressful components.

Can't wrap my potato in iron paper

Volfandt

 

[_RaT_]

I've seen many a crack and break in cast iron. Front axlw housings, broken TE30 and 8N 3PH's, engine blocks and fe DWV to name a few. Cracks are not limited to aluminum....

Temps can run as high as 100 degrees higher than the ambient outside temp in HST's so a cast aluminum HST would be more condusive to dissapateing heat than one made of cast iron.

Corrosion can and will wreak havoc in cast iron.

An aircraft will not be able to defeat gravity if it was constructed with cast iron and the cost's would be in the billions to keep them corrsion free if they could

Other materials in an aircraft are also routingly inspected for stress cracks, the steel landing gear rods and the composits used in framing come to mind...

The highest performance internal combustion engines in use today utilize much more cast aluminum than cast iron in the most stressful components.

Can't wrap my potato in iron paper

Volfandt

All valid points, but basic metalurgy and casting techniques may very well favor cast iron. Mass, cheap, easy to mill, thermally stable. No doubt good quality aluminum castings or forged aluminum will be a superb alternative, thats not exactly where the compact tractor industry is at. When it comes down to critical parts, high quality STEEL is used. Imagine a set of gears made out of the highest quality aluminum versus 4130 steel or greater, its no contest. Aircraft situations are almost always a compromise of weight, its all about weight, tractors, it really does not matter that much, its the bottom line that counts, something I can not argue with. Ductile cast iron has made much of the cast iron industry a super competive alternative to most any other metal and a very valuable alternative. I don't argue for a second that aluminum, titanium, magnesium, carbon fiber, kevlar have their place, but don't count on those products being heavily used in todays compacts unless it helps the bottom line. Volfandt, I always enjoy your opinions, your always right on with me.

 

[RobJ]

Corrosion can and will wreak havoc in cast iron.

An aircraft will not be able to defeat gravity if it was constructed with cast iron and the cost's would be in the billions to keep them corrsion free if they could

Other materials in an aircraft are also routingly inspected for stress cracks, the steel landing gear rods and the composits used in framing come to mind...

The highest performance internal combustion engines in use today utilize much more cast aluminum than cast iron in the most stressful components.

Can't wrap my potato in iron paper

Volfandt

Man I've seen a lot of old cast iron tractor parts that a little wire brushing brought them back to life. And some of the iron bridge parts around here they are leaving unpainted. I seem to recall the surface rust forms and protects what's underneath. And manhole covers seem to last forever!!

I'm not sure how the airplane stuff got into here. Airplanes need to be as light as possible. Plus my tractor has never been 550mph at 38,000'.

Actually in the auto AL is used because it's lighter, this means more power and mpg. And with the heat transfer (heads), you can get more power out of an engine. For some reason it's all about power and lighter.

Hehehe, I don't think baked potatos were invented when aluminum foil was?? Before they were put in a cast iron oven.

But forget the great debate, I like working with AL much better than steel. Easier to drill, cut, etc. I'm not set up for welding it either but I hear it is a bit harder to get good at. But welding cast isn't a breeze either.

 

[SkyPup]

Yeah, and for some reason, it's really hard to put out...

That's because once elemental magnesium gets hot enough to begin oxidation, it then oxidizes rapidly at > 5,500*F, which is extremely hot.

So hot in fact that if you look at it your retinas will be permanently burned from the ultraviolet light output.

Also, NEVER attempt to put out a magensium fire using water!

At the 5,500*F oxidation temperature, water disassociates into oxygen and hydrogen and you immediately get a teriffic explosion!

 

[_RaT_]

At the 5,500*F oxidation temperature, water disassociates into oxygen and hydrogen and you immediately get a teriffic explosion!

COOOL!

 

[SkyPup]

Some junkyards that collect automotive parts have learned the hard way.

Many Porsche and Volkswagen engine parts are made of magnesium and if someone thinks it is aluminum by mistake and they try to weld it, if it is magnesium it lights up extremely hot.

Then when they toss water on it, everything is completely destroyed in a instant for a large radius!

You cannot even use carbon dioxide gas to try to extinguish the fire (if you could get close enough to the blaze) as even CO2 disassociates at that tempeature into elemental carbon and oxygen, creating even a bigger fire!

 

[Volfandt]

I'm not sure how the airplane stuff got into here. Airplanes need to be as light as possible. Plus my tractor has never been 550mph at 38,000'.

Airtractor anyone?
Air Tractor Delivers AT-802F to Croatia

 

[RobJ]

Well, heres one that is 4WD

I give in on that one!!

 

[bloody_peasant]

Tensile strength - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is more than just tensile strength as the above article shows. It gives the stress curves for low carbon steel and aluminum. The key for steel is that as long as the pressure stays below the yield point it will snap back to its original shape. Notice that the aluminum curve is less linear and thus deforms permenantly quicker.

While aluminum has a similar tensile strength compared to cast iron it appears to be more ductile and and does not snap back to original shape as well.

Now this article doesn't discuss aluminum alloys in any way. Nor does it discuss other measures of strength (although it links to some of them).

This seems to follow my experiences as well, cast iron will crack if suddenly impacted while aluminum will tend to deform. This and weight were one of the reasons Stanley tried making aluminum hand planes for a while, but they were too light although they didn't crack like an iron one does when dropped on a concrete shop floor

 

[ronjhall]

Henro,

The B7800, B2910 and B3030 have aluminum transmission and rear axle housings. The frame rails are steel and the front axle and engine are cast iron.

Maybe your B3030 has Aluminum Axle housings. My B2910 does not have Aluminum. They are cast iron. I checked the parts list for the B7800. The part numbers for it's axles are the same as the B2910.