Yamaha Motor will progressively switch the raw material in its all-aluminium DiASil Cylinder from virgin aluminium to recycled aluminium alloy. Once every product that uses the cylinder has made the switch, scheduled for 2030, Yamaha estimates the change will cut CO? emissions by about 47,000 tonnes a year.
The DiASil Cylinder needs neither an iron sleeve nor plating. Yamaha was the first company in the world to develop and use this design, in 2002, and it's now found in a range of Yamaha motorcycles and scooters. It offers excellent wear resistance, seizure resistance and heat dissipation, along with lower weight, improved recyclability and lower manufacturing costs.
Until now, Yamaha has used virgin aluminium alloy for the cylinder. Conventional recycled materials contain trace impurities, which made it hard to meet the quality standards for metal microstructure, surface properties and corrosion resistance.
To solve this, Yamaha developed a recycled aluminium alloy with traits comparable to virgin aluminium, which can be used in the same production processes. Using material design based on thermodynamic calculations, Yamaha ran repeated bench tests and vehicle evaluations and confirmed the recycled alloy met all functional requirements.
The switch will begin with commuter models built in Indonesia, with a global rollout planned.
It's part of the Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050, which aims for carbon neutrality across the entire supply chain by 2050. That covers Yamaha's own business activities (Scope 1 and 2) and emissions beyond them (Scope 3). Yamaha also aims to switch 100% of the aluminium raw materials used in its own manufacturing to sustainable alternatives by 2030, at its major production bases in Japan and overseas.
