Ahh the bullsh*t is strong in this thread
Firstly some definitions;
Forging, casting and sintering all processes, hypereutectic refers to the composition of the material, specifically the concentration of a minor component in this case silicon.
Hypereutectic alloys contain more of the minor component in a mixture or alloy than in the mixture of the same elements that has the lowest melting point, the opposite of this is hypoeutectic which of course means having less of the minor component than the alloy with the lowest melting point, and of course eutectic alloys are the ones with the lowest melting point. In the case of aluminium silicon alloys the eutectic point corresponds to the point of saturation of the silicon (around 12%). The higher the silicon content the lower the expansion rate of the alloy.
Hypereutectic pistons are supersaturated and as such have undissolved silicon crystal structures spread throughout the alloy. Provided these are evenly distributed they add to the strength, silicon inclusions with have a detrimental effect on the strength of the alloy so a special flux is used in the casting process. Note all alloys are cast, whether it be into billets, or their final shape, so use of this term doesn’t imply the final finishing process in this case.
Hypereutectic Al/Si alloys are brittle, so the can’t be formed with the traditional cold forging techniques and they have to be heated to a state between solidus and liquidus before than can be press into the mould, this is known as semi-solid forming (or thixoforming) hence the misnomer of semi-forged.
Solidus is that temperature at which an alloy begins to melt. Liquidus is the temperature above which an alloy is completely molten. Between the solidus and liquidus temperatures, the alloy will be a mixture of solid and liquid phases. Just above the solidus temperature, the mixture will be mostly solid with some liquid phases (like the consistency of snow, but hotter!). Just below the liquidus temperature, the mixture will be mostly liquid with some solid phases (like sleet).
Most common forged pistons are made from 2618 alloy, which contains virtually no silicon hence has a high expansion rate, necessitating a high piston to bore clearance. They can be hot or cold forged and are mechanically stronger than eutectic or hypereutectic and will resist detonation better as they surface erodes/deforms and doesn’t form stress cracks as easily as higher silicon alloys will. However they are thermally weaker so in a high heat situation, like a forced induction engine, they require more clearance and more in cylinder cooling than a high silicon alloy piston or they may melt.
The most common high silicon alloy used for forging pistons is 4032, though strictly speaking this is usually regarded as eutectic, as it has between 11 & 13.5% silicon. If you can find a manufacturer that forges 4032 pistons these are probably the best ones to use in a forced induction engine, especially a street driven one, they don’t have the expansion problems of 2618, and are not as brittle as hypereutectic pistons, so they don’t exhibit the common Toyota problem of broken ring lands as readily.
NB 6000 series alloys are
not used for pistons as vvega stated and certainly not in the T89 temper which involves cold working (hard to do on a finished item), they are not Hypereutectic and usually have less 1.5% silicon in them, the main alloying element in 6000 series is magnesium (to form magnesium silicate) and it’s not suitable for pistons, 6061 is the most common of the high strength 6000 series. Both 4032 and 6061 are typically hot die forged and 6061 can be cold forged.
Hypereutectic pistons usually have 16-24% silicon content and are either produced as a casting, like Mercedes Benz truck pistons, or are hot forged like the Toyota items. The higher the silicon content the harder it is to avoid silicon inclusions, therefore alloys with a higher silicon content, up to around 35%, are sintered to avoid this. The sintering process involves mixing powdered aluminium and silicon in a mould and subjecting it to extremely high pressure and heat, this process is not AFAIK used for automotive pistons, though I do have a few extremely high performance model aircraft engines in my collection that have these pistons. You can also buy this Sintered Al/Si as bar , but the cost is astronomical and it has poor machining qualities.
***Edited to add reference to semi-solid forming + the following references to the properties of the common alloys
2618
4032
6061
Now I'll leave all the x-spurts to continue their discussion