Comparative study of direct and indirect forging processes for rheological material of A356 aluminium alloy

Abstract

Using a vacuum electromagnetic stirring system, a high quality rheological material is developed in order to fabricate the engineering components without defects like internal porosities, which are caused by the entrapment of external air into the melt and impurities arising from the penetration of surface oxides by vacuum electromagnetic stirring. For practical application in vehicle industry, forming of the knuckle component that is used in automobiles was demonstrated by both direct and indirect type rheoforging processes. Here, insufficient filling behaviour occurred during direct forging processes, whereas indirect rheoforging of material with a solid fraction of 30–40 produced a completely formed knuckle component; thus, an indirect forging process may be suitable for forming the knuckle part. Through microstructural investigations and tensile tests before and after T6 heat treatment of the material, mechanical properties were characterised. By obtaining data about the rheoforging process and material properties of the rheoforged product associated with microstructural features, feasibility for future practical application was investigated. Moreover, the die structure for direct and indirect rheological forging processes was comparatively studied.

Keywords

Rheology material Vacuum pressure Aluminium alloy Solid fraction Stirring EMS Forging

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