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An innovative Low Pressure Die Casting (LPDC) process has been developed for aluminum cast components based on the application of an extra pressure during the solidification process. The new process, named "Low Pressure Squeeze Casting" (LPSC) has been proved to be able to increase the solidification rate, refining the microstructure of the casting, and reducing its shrinkage porosity. Furthermore, the cycle time is also reduced, increasing the productivity of the process. Two demonstrators from the automotive and wind power industries have been produced to validate the process in a relevant industrial environment.

The traditional materials encounter dif culties to comply with all the properties required by new components under service conditions. The automotive and the railway industries require low cost solutions to improve the nal performance of components made from steel, cast iron, or even conventional aluminium alloys (e.g. clutch discs, brake discs, or pistons). Weight reduction, improvement in wear behaviour, high thermal conductivity, low coef cient of thermal expansion, and easy recycling are sought, among other characteristics, in order to obtain more ef cient products leading to a reduction of pollutant emissions. The range of materials that can meet these requirements is presently very narrow and their nal price is more expensive (e.g. aluminium matrix composites) than currently used materials. In this paper a new low cost metal matrix composite that has been used to produce pistons, clutch discs, and train brake discs is presented. MST/5400The authors are in the Fundación INASMET,