StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I used to work as a machine operator for a large manufacturing company. BAsicaly, we made various components for cars. (Steering column components and whatnot.) Now, I noticed that sometimes, when one of these components were dropped (Oh, this was 6000-series Aluminum) they would literally BREAK on the floor and inside of the broken piece, there were tiny little metal Balls....at least that's what it looked like to me...anyway, it was almost granular. this would also occur with certain lots when you pressed bushings into hole on the piece (Using MAN power) my question is this: Is that Safe? I mean, these components were used in steering columns, seats, fuel tanks, etc. they should have dented, not broken, right? and what could cause this? We're talking dropped from a height of like, 3-4 feet. what would break specifically would be like, ears or protruding parts, not the bodies of the parts, per se...
If you need any further info, I'll do my best to provide.
(BTW, based on my experience there, I, to this day, will not buy a ford vehicle. Or a jeep cherokee, their quality control is atrocious)


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The stuff indie the metal when it breaks...it like...flakes off...if you rub your finger across it, the metal ball thingys like....fall out...i mean, its like it's solid, but held together REALLY loosely...

Sounds like the manufacturer screwed up the heat treating on the parts, either that or they used cast aluminum instead of forged and/or rolled aluminum, or maybe some of it wasn't 6000 series aluminum. I'd say it's most likely that the heat treat got messed up causing the excessive brittleness and poor strength, with the wrong alloy theory being the next most likely. Hell, maybe they used garden variety cast aluminum instead of 6000 series to save a few bucks.

No it's not entirely safe, it just means the parts in question will be weaker and have a significantly shorter fatigue life and thus fail faster. Shimano had a similar issue with bicycle cranks about 10 years ago, some of their cranks were snapping in half after a few years of use, normally they last almost forever. Turned out someone had put the cranks through the wrong oven for age hardening which made them overly brittle.

Oh, this was extruded aluminum....don't know if this makes a difference, but there it is

Well, in that case I'd say with 99% certainty that someone screwed up the heat treat & aging process pretty good.

Chardok wrote:(BTW, based on my experience there, I, to this day, will not buy a ford vehicle. Or a jeep cherokee, their quality control is atrocious)

But I can say that their airbag module QC is pretty good. I did some work with Ford Visteon which manufactures the modules & other electronics, and after we contracted with Toyota they sent in a bunch of QC auditors to fix up our manufacturing & QC procedures. We made the changes and everything was good, and then 2 years later they shut the plant down.