No doubt, the aftermarket drop forged rods are currently stronger and better for higher output applications, but I think one of powder forging's main attractions (for me as an engineer anyway) is its predictability. In one of those papers referenced earlier, it can be seen that the scatter of the failure plots of the PF rods vs the drop forgings is much, much tighter. This means engineers don't have to put extra metal in a design to cover the manufacturing inconsistencies, because the PF rods will fail at the same stress point every time. This could mean much lighter assemblies in race motors than are currently possible with conventional designs. I'm a disciple of the Colin Chapman school of thought, which was that the perfectly designed race car is the one that just won the race, then fell apart just after the finish line.
Frankly, it'll be very interesting to see how far the powdered metal industry can take this technology over the next 5-10 years. Already there are powder forged pistons, and titanium powder forged rods available for racing applications.
Imagine the possibilities for powder forged piston development if you could dial in whatever "cocktail" you wanted for a certain application. Let's see, a bit of graphite for lubricity, titanium for light weight & stability, some Inconel for anti-galling, etc. I don't know if this is even possible yet, but it makes for some fascinating alloy possibilities. Already the powder industry is doing some of this with cylinder liners, so why not pistons?
Not to stray too far OT here, but just to bring some clarification where it was needed. The OEM 1/2/3UZ rods are definitely forged, just not in the traditional manner.
