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At the end of May 2025, Shanghai Fangchi New Material Technology Co., Ltd. completed the trial production of turbocharger blade samples for BYD's new hybrid model and delivered them to the customer for bench testing in early June. This marks Fangchi's first entry into the core component field of turbochargers, representing a significant breakthrough in automotive MIM parts.
Turbocharger blades operate in harsh environments, requiring resistance to high temperatures (up to approximately 800°C), high pressure, and corrosive exhaust gases. The blades also feature complex shapes and thin walls. The traditional manufacturing method is precision casting, which suffers from issues such as porosity and shrinkage, along with significant post-machining challenges. The MIM process can near-net-shape complex curved surfaces with high material utilization, leading BYD's engineering team to choose Fangchi for collaborative development.
According to Fangchi's project engineer, the blade is made from 17-4PH precipitation-hardening stainless steel powder, with a design life requirement of over 150,000 kilometers. The team faced three main challenges: first, ensuring the feedstock's flowability to fill thin-wall sections completely; second, precisely controlling dimensional shrinkage during the debinding and sintering process to maintain the correct clearance between the blade and the turbine housing; and third, preventing oxide inclusions inside the part, which could compromise fatigue strength.
After four rounds of mold modifications and process adjustments, the final delivered samples achieved a dimensional accuracy of CT6 grade and a density exceeding 98% of the theoretical value. BYD's quality engineers performed non-destructive testing and metallographic analysis on the samples, confirming that the internal quality met the requirements. The samples have now been installed on a test engine and are undergoing durability bench testing.
According to the plan, if the bench tests go smoothly, a small-batch trial production will take place in the fourth quarter of 2025, with mass production transitioning in the second quarter of 2026. The estimated annual demand is approximately 800,000 units.
Fangchi's technical director stated that the turbocharger blade is a typical application of MIM in the automotive powertrain field, offering high added value. The company will continue to follow up on this project while also discussing the development of similar parts with other domestic OEMs.
