A FILLING ANALYSIS OF THE FORGING PROCESS OF SEMISOLID ALUMINUM MATERIALS CONSIDERING SOLIDIFICATION PHENOMENA

A new forming technology has been developed to fabricate near-net shap e products using light metal. Semi-solid forming technology has some a dvantages compared with conventional forming processes such as die cas ting, squeeze casting and hot/cold forging. In this study, the numeric al analysis of semi-solid filling is carried out and corresponding exp eriments are undertaken for semi-solid materials (SSM) of solid fracti on f(s) = 30% in A356 aluminum alloy. A finite-difference program of t he Navier-Stokes equation, coupled with heat transfer and solidificati on, has been developed to predict the filling pattern and temperature distribution of the SSM. The program developed in this study gives the die-filling patterns of the SSM and the final solidification region. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.