Page "Crankshaft" Paragraph 30

Crankshafts can be forged from a steel bar usually through roll forging or cast in ductile steel.

Today more and more manufacturers tend to favor the use of forged crankshafts due to their lighter weight, more compact dimensions and better inherent dampening.

With forged crankshafts, vanadium microalloyed steels are mostly used as these steels can be air cooled after reaching high strengths without additional heat treatment, with exception to the surface hardening of the bearing surfaces.

The low alloy content also makes the material cheaper than high alloy steels.

Carbon steels are also used, but these require additional heat treatment to reach the desired properties.

Iron crankshafts are today mostly found in cheaper production engines ( such as those found in the Ford Focus diesel engines ) where the loads are lower.

Some engines also use cast iron crankshafts for low output versions while the more expensive high output version use forged steel.