• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1999.03b
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• pp.169-172
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• 1999

Thixoforming process has been accepted as a new method for fabricating near net shaped products with lighweight aluminum alloys. The thixoforming process consists of reheating process of billet, billet handing filling into the die cavity and solidification of thixoformed part,. in this paper the thixoforming experiments are performed with two different die temperature ({{{{ TAU _d}}}}=20$0^{\circ}C$ 30$0^{\circ}C$) and orifice gate type. The microstructures of SSM(357, A490 and ALTHIX 86S) fabricated in thixoforming process are evaluated in therms of globularization and grain size. effect of alloying elements onthe surface and internal defects is investigated. Finally the methods to obtain the thixoformed products with good mechanical propertis are proposed by solution for avoiding the surface and internal defects.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.188-199
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• 1999

Semi-Solid Forming Process(Thixoforming, Rheocasting) is a novel forming process which has some advantages compared with conventional die casting, squeeze casting and hot/cold forging. In this study. Thixoforming process was selected as analysis processing in terms of billet handling and easiness of automation process. The Thixoforming process consists of reheating process of billet, billet handling, filling inot the die cavity and solidification of SSM part. In filling process, two rheology models which were Newtonian and Non-Nettonian model (Ostwald-deWaele)were verified with experimental results. The Ostwald-deWaele model shows the good agreement to the real flow and filling phenomena in die cavity. To give a boost the economical efficiency of Thixoforming process and to ensure the good forming result, reheating device coupled die set was proposed and the initial billet temperature for system that was found from experimental resluts. This study presents an overview of application of numerical analysis for simulation of semi-solid metal forming process to reduce the lead time for development of manufacturing part in industrial field.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.244-249
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• 2014

The thixoforming process has been applied to forming of a joint node for the aluminum frame of a low speed electric vehicle. A joint node should connect three aluminum extruded chassis showing different profiles. The MHS(magnetohydrodynamic stirring) A357 billet was selected because homogeneous globular grains are necessary as the billet materials for thixoforming. A careful design of joint node has been performed by the considerations of structural demands and the simulation results for the thixoforming process using the MAGMAsoft. Optimum heating temperature for the A357 billet was between 580 and $585^{\circ}C$ corresponding to the semi-solid temperatures showing 20-30% of liquid fraction. An injection speed of around 100mm/s and preheating of die at temperatures of $200^{\circ}C$ were also necessary conditions to obtain reasonable thixoformed parts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.233-236
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• 2005

Rotor in small-medium induction motor has been usually manufactured by aluminum diecasting. In order to improve efficiency of induction motors, newly developed Cu-Ca alloys have been investigated. The electrical conductivity in the Cu alloys containing Ca less than $1.0wt\%$ was higher than $80\%$ IACS. Cu-Ca alloy is desirable for the thixoforming process because it has wide semi-solid range over $150^{\circ}C$. In this study, Cu-rotor with thixoforming process was developed to replace the conventional aluminum diecasting rotor. Analysis microstructure of thixoforming rotor. effect of incomplete filling defect on the efficiency of induction motor was discussed.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.223-234
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• 2001

The characteristics of thixoforming process can decrease liquid segregation because of the improvement in fluidity in a globular microstructure state and utilizes flow without an air entrapment. Therefore, in order to obtain the sound parts of metal matrix composites by using thixoforming process which has co-existing solidus-liquidus phase, it is very important to design a die shape property and to obtain the fabrication conditions which affect the unifomity of the solid fraction on unfilling state and various defects throughout the fabricated parts. The die designs and fabrication conditions to obtain the good piston part are proposed for thixoforging process of metal matrix composites. When reheated metal matrix composites billets were transferred to the closed die gate, thixoforging were carried out under the various pressure(60, 80, 100MPa) with controled forging speed. The mechanical properties such as hardness and tensile strength for thixoforged parts have been investigated after T6 heat treatment.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.14 no.7 s.79
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• pp.642-648
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• 2005

Rotor in small-medium induction motor has been usually manufactured by aluminum diecasting. In order to improve the efficiency of induction motors, newly developed Cu-Ca alloys have been investigated. The electrical conductivity in the Cu alloys containing Ca less than $1.0wt\%$ was higher than $80\%$ IACS. Cu-Ca alloy is desirable for the thixoforming process because it has wide semi-solid range over $150^{\circ}C$. In this study, Cu-rotor with thixoforming process was developed to replace the conventional aluminum diecasting rotor. Analysis was performed for the microstructure of thixoforming rotor. Effect of incomplete filling on the efficiency of induction motor was discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.236-239
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• 2001

In thixoforming, the globule size is determined by the hoding time of last reheating stage. In this study, some experiments to investigate the relationship between the mechanical properties and the holding time were performed A357, A390 and A3l9 alloys are used in this study. This paper shows the evolution of the microstructure according to the holding time of last reheating stage. Tensile test was performed for each reheating condition to examine the effect of globule size.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.494-503
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• 2000

The electro-magnetic stirring and mechanical process were applied to fabricate particulate metal matrix composites(PMMCs) with various particle size. The mechanical test on PMMCs was carried out in order to clarify the effect of 76 heat treatment on tensile behaviors. In order to study the thixoforming of PMMCs, fabricated billet are reheated by using the coil designed as a function of length between PMMC billet and coil surface, coil diameter and billet length. The effect of reinforcement distribution on billet temperature variation has been investigated with the calculated solid fraction theory based on a function of matrix alloy and volume fraction of reinforcement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1999.03b
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• pp.195-198
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• 1999

For the thixoforming process beside an existing solidus-liquidus interval, the reheating conditions to obtain the globular microstructure are very important. It relies on the control of globular microstructure of semi-solid alloys that contain non-dendritic particles. To obtain the globular microstructure in cross section of billet, the optimal design of the induction coil is necessary. Therefore, in this paper the optimal coil design to minimize electromagnetic end effect will be proposed. The results of coil design were also applied to the reheating process to obtain a fine globular microstructure. Finally, reheating data base of aluminum alloys for thixoforming and FEM model for induction heating based on the optimal coil design have been proposed.