What is the best aluminum grade for casting a strong differential case A356 T6 or 2014 T6?

According to MatWeb (www.matweb.com) 2014-T6 is ';used in applications requiring high strength/hardness, including elevated temperature uses.';





The Brinell hardness of 2014-T6 is 135 compared to A356 T6 hardness of 70.0- 105.





The other data points show that 2014-T6 is much more robust than A356 T6.





It should be stressed that the data point information provided by MatWeb and the Aluminum Association, Inc. are NOT FOR DESIGN.





The links below are the data sheets for A356 T6 and 2014 T6 provided by MatWebWhat is the best aluminum grade for casting a strong differential case A356 T6 or 2014 T6?
There are a lot of factors to consider. If you are designing your own casting mold, you need to consider how the alloys will behave when they are melted and as they are soldifying (fluidity, shrinkage voids, gas porosity, segregation, reactions with mold material, etc). The hardness will related to the wear resistance and how difficult it will be to machine but hardness is not the same as strength. What other characteristics are important? Corrosion, thermal expansion, impact strength, fatigue strength, weight, machinability, others???


In general, A356 is designed to be a casting alloy, I don't think 2014 is.

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