• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.7-21
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• 2000

This paper describes an overview of the thixoforming and thixomolding processes. Semi-solid metalworking (SSM), which is called the thixoforming process of aluminium materials, incorporates the elements of both casting and for the manufacture of near net shape parts. The SSM has some advantages such as net shape or near net shape manufacturing, the ability to form thin walls, excellent surface finish, tight tolerance, and excellent dimensional precision. The thixomolding process of Mg alloy (AZ9l) is a combination of two technologies both conventional die casting and plastic injection molding. The feed material used is a machined chip with a geometry of approximately 1 mm square and a length of 2~3 mm. The semi-solid forming (SSF) of high quality aluminium and magnesium parts will be established in the automotive and electronic industry, in the future. The hybrid method of casting/forging has been caused attention. This process uses a preformed material made by casting instead of the wrought material and finishes it by a single forging process. This process is expected to lower costs without sacrificing the mechanical and finishes it by a single forging process. The process is expected to lower costs without sacrificing the mechanical properties. The authors, intending that the casting/forging process contributes to a reduction in production cost of aluminum automotive parts in Korea, describes the feature of the casting/forging process, aluminum alloys suitable for the cast preform, microstructure and mechanical properties of the cast preform, application examples of cast/forging, and further study.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.44-55
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• 2001

The flow behavior of semi-solid materials (SSM) is required to assist the industrial application of thixoforming technology. Particularly, to reduce many lead times, many numerical analysis packages have been developed to simulate required metal forming processes. The objectives of the development of SEMI-FORM for thixoforming process design are to predict the effect of various process variables such as pressing force, die temperature, and die velocity. However, there have not been any reports which adapt these packages to the specific characteristics of SSM. SO, this paper presents an overview of the development of thixoforming simulator of SEMI-FORM. The solver and post-processor of SEMI-FORM S/W for an automated thixoforming process design with arbitrarily shaped die are composed of FORTRAN Power Station 4.0 and Visual Basic 5.0, respectively. This developing SEMI-FORM S/W would be very useful for thixoforming practitioners and engineers to select the optimal process conditions to produce automotive parts with high quality.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.581-593
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• 1990

A semi-solid alloy in which solid and liquid phase are co-existing is obtained by strirring of Al7075 molten metal. A semi-solid alloy is dependent on the corresponding temperature within the solid-liquid range, and the process parameters should be controlled accurately to obtain the homogeneous semi-solid alloy. The possibility o homogeneous fiber-reinforce aluminum alloy by addition of $Al_{2}$O$_{3}$ short fibers with vigorous agitation was investigated. The billet of composite materials was fabricated by squeeze casting, and homogeneous dipersion state of fibers in billet of fabricated metal matrix composites was observed. A slurry of semi-solid short fiber metal matrix composites is used in the direct rolling process, and this process showed the fabrication possibility of metal matrix composite sheets. The fabricated sheet was tested regarding vickers hardness, elongation and micro-structure. It has become clear that mashy state processing and working are very useful to obtain parts of composites material closed to near net shape.