The Potential of Cast Stock for the Forging of Aluminum Components within the Automotive Industry
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Generic Forging Trials
- As extruded: material provided by Raufoss Technology from their standard extruded forging stock.
- As cast and homogenized: 90 mm LPC material was provided by Hydro Aluminium Primary Metal, produced at the Husnes plant. Homogenization was performed at 550 °C for 2 h, followed by rapid cooling in air.
- Pre-formed cast: in this case, the homogenized LPC material was pre-formed via CWR by Raufoss Technology. The CWR component was taken out from the production line after CWR and cooled down to room temperature prior to extracting the required specimens for the forging trial.
2.2. Full-Scale Production Trials of FLCA
3. Results
3.1. Generic Forging Trials
3.1.1. Initial Microstructure of the Forging Stocks
3.1.2. Microstructure and Mechanical Properties after Forging
3.2. Full-Scale Production Trials of FLCA
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- The microstructural investigations revealed a reduced surface grain growth in the forged components produced from cast material, enhancing product reliability and robustness against pauses in a production line.
- The mechanical properties of the cast material were found to increase with the increasing degree of plastic deformation, making the LPC material well suited for the forging of complex components where the production process includes pre-forming. The variation between obtained strength in T6 temper in the generic and the full-scale industrial production trials emphasizes the influence of product design, i.e., differences in introduced deformation on the final properties.
- Directly replacing extruded forging stock with cast in the FLCA production yields comparable mechanical properties: a slightly lower strength, but with higher ductility in T5 temper. In T6 temper the properties of the cast FLCA were in line with the extruded material. Optimizing the thermomechanical process further is required to achieve the desired properties in T5 temper.
- The high ductility combined with the desirable microstructure promoted a high structural integrity and ensured a high structural integrity, as evident from FLCA fatigue trails.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Identification | Position/Direction | Rp0.2 | Rm | A | Z 1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MPa | MPa | % | % | ||
Extruded–T6 | Longitudinal | 391.5 ± 0.5 | 406.5 ± 0.5 | 10.0 ± 0.3 | 42.0 ± 0.0 |
Cast–T6 | Longitudinal | 356.5 ± 0.5 | 376.5 ± 0.5 | 9.7 ± 0.1 | 28.0 ± 5.0 |
Pre-formed cast–T6 | Longitudinal | 344.8 ± 1.0 | 362.5 ± 0.1 | 11.5 ± 0.6 | 51.5 ± 1.5 |
Extruded–T6 | Transverse | 363.3 ± 2.6 | 382.0 ± 2.9 | 8.9 ± 0.1 | 45.0 ± 0.8 |
Cast–T6 | Transverse | 370.3 ± 0.9 | 393.3 ± 1.2 | 12.2 ± 0.8 | 48.7 ± 0.9 |
Pre-formed cast–T6 | Transverse | 357.5 ± 2.2 | 377.7 ± 2.0 | 12.2 ± 0.3 | 50.0 ± 2.9 |
Identification | Position | Rp0.2 | Rm | A | Z 1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MPa | MPa | % | % | ||
Extruded–T5, Reference from current production | Bulk area (standard) | 376.3 ± 4.0 | 399.2 ± 5.5 | 12.1 ± 0.9 | 36.8 ± 1.2 |
Pin area | 388 | 405 | 12 | 38 | |
Cast–T5 | Bulk area (standard) | 345.5 ± 2.5 | 378.1 ± 1 | 13.7 ± 0.8 | 42.4 ± 3.0 |
Pin area | 369.8 ± 6.5 | 381.3 ± 6.8 | 14.1 ± 0.7 | 50.3 ± 2.9 | |
Cast–T6 | Bulk area (standard) | 376.0 ± 2.0 | 403.5 ± 1.5 | 13.1 ± 1.2 | 45.0 ± 2.0 |
Identification | Number of Cycles before Failure |
---|---|
Requirement | 18,040 |
Extruded T5–reference average from current production | 141,466 |
Cast T5–component (1) | 162,360 |
Cast T5–component (2) | 135,745 |
Cast T5–component (3) | 139,794 |
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Arbo, S.M.; Tjøtta, S.; Boge, M.H.; Tundal, U.; Li, J.; Dumoulin, S.; Jensrud, O. The Potential of Cast Stock for the Forging of Aluminum Components within the Automotive Industry. Metals 2024, 14, 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14010090
Arbo SM, Tjøtta S, Boge MH, Tundal U, Li J, Dumoulin S, Jensrud O. The Potential of Cast Stock for the Forging of Aluminum Components within the Automotive Industry. Metals. 2024; 14(1):90. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14010090
Chicago/Turabian StyleArbo, Siri Marthe, Stig Tjøtta, Magne H. Boge, Ulf Tundal, Jørgen Li, Stephane Dumoulin, and Ola Jensrud. 2024. "The Potential of Cast Stock for the Forging of Aluminum Components within the Automotive Industry" Metals 14, no. 1: 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14010090