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The forgings of wheel hub type are often made by means of drop forging processes realized on presses. Due to the necessity of lightweight structure, wheel hubs are often manufactured by aluminum forging. Forming of drop forged wheel hub is a specific hot forging process and it differs from steel forging process.
The big changeability of aluminum alloys properties within the range of the applied forming parameters results in difficulties in the process design. The majority of aluminum alloys’ forgings are made by means of forging process with flash. The degree of complex forging geometry decides about the amount of heating and type of the applied tooling. The forgings with a complex geometry, ribbed, which need a precise preforming, are forged in preforming impression, and next, after the damages removing and reheating they are forged in forming impression. In the forming process of less complex forgings, which are made in small series, the application of preforming impression is usually omitted. Preforming operation is made in forming impression with several millimeters of underfilling. After the damages removing and reheating, it is finally made in the same impression. In case of enlarged forgings, the preforms are rarely used despite difficulties in their obtaining. For the preforming of material, enlarging and rolling impressions are not applied. The operation of this type causes fast lowering of material temperature and the overlapping creation as a result forging with rotation at the same time. Because of that, workpiece in the form of a bar with the section close to the biggest forging section is used.
Abstract: It has been proved that forged aluminum alloy is a perfect option compared to steel forgings and cast aluminum parts in the competition for reducing vehicle weight. Additionally, this choice leads to a decisive productivity improvement in the high-volume production under competitive price levels.
In terms of automotive chassis, the light weight of inelastic materials is beneficial for safety and comfort. Heinz Lowak, a doctor of engineering, argues that before he put the box with the silvery lateral guides for the front axles of the Audi A6 and Volkswagen Passat: "Our aluminum forgings weigh only half the weight of the same functional steel components, which is a decisive advantage." Meinertzhagen, the light metal technology sales and marketing department head of the Otto Fuchs company believes that aluminum can achieve very good mechanical properties through forging. The tensile strength and yield limit of the above lateral guide can reach 440N/mm2 and 380 N/mm2 respectively, the elongation can be more than 10%, especially for the yield limit and elongation, the level of aluminum forgings is higher than the commonly used cast aluminum alloy.
Generally, there are two kinds of forging methods of aluminum alloys, namely aluminum hot forging and aluminum cold forging. The difference between aluminum hot forging and aluminum cold forging is the deformation temperature. All the aluminum forging parts made in CFS Forge is closed die hot or cold forged. Closed-die forging is able to shape aluminum material into a wide array of shapes, designed within fairly precise tolerances. This process is a useful way to form small precise aluminum parts. When it comes to large production runs, closed-die forging typically remains more cost-effective than casting method. Moreover, closed-die forging offers a better surface finish and is more environmentally-friendly.
Compared with aluminum forging companies from developped countries, the manufacturing cost of aluminum forging parts in China is much lower. To save cost, many overseas companies choose to import goods from Chinese aluminum forging suppliers. As one of the largest aluminum forging companies and exporters in China, CFS has the capabilities of forging, machining, surface polishing or anodization of aluminum alloys, which will enable us to supply finished aluminum forging parts to our customers from USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, etc. According to our rich experience in aluminum forging field, here are some attentions to pay to when choosing the right Chinese aluminum forging supplier.
Forging is one of the main manufacturing ways to provide metal blanks for mechanical parts to various industries. The advantage of forging production lies in: it can not only obtain the desired shape, but also improve the internal organization of materials and mechanical properties. For the important mechanical parts with large force and high mechanical performance requirements, most of them are made by forging. Forging parts account for 80% of aircraft parts, 70% of tank parts, 60% of automobile parts. Hydraulic turbine spindle, impeller, rotor, ring guard, etc. in the power industry are all forged.It can be seen that forging production occupies an extremely important position in the industrial applications.
Forged aluminum has the advantages of low density and high strength, so it has been widely used in various industries. Aluminum forging is becoming the main production process of various mechanical parts. Generally, any part forged with low carbon steel can be forged with aluminum alloy in aluminum forging companies. Forged Aluminum parts in various forging equipments such as forging hammer, mechanical press, hydraulic press, die forging, rolling forging and die forging. Generally speaking, aluminum forgings with small size, simple shape and wide tolerance requirements can be easily forged on the forging hammer, but for aluminum forgings with large specifications and severe deformation requirements, hydraulic press is used for forging. Aluminum forgings with large and complex integral structures must be produced by large hydraulic die forging press. For large precision ring parts, precision ring rolling machine should be used for rolling forging.
With the characteristics of low density, moderate strength, corrosion resistance, easy shaping, easy welding, beautiful appearance, durability and easy recycling, aluminum alloy should attract more and more attention in motorcycle industry and its applied range should be expanded in the motorcycle industry. In the 21st century, aluminum alloy motorcycle parts should be vigorously developed based on the above advantages.
Almost all steel parts on motorcycles can be replaced by aluminum alloy materials under the continuous efforts of the related professional and technical personnel in motorcycle industry. In recent years, with the increasing demands of international environmental protection and national and regional government energy conservation regulations, motorcycles are moving toward a tendency of “green motorcycle” that is lightweight, high-speed, safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly. Undoubtedly, it will promote the application of aluminum alloy materials on motorcycles. Forged aluminum alloy is particularly important in its material application.
When it comes to aluminum forging, the most atttactive word is "aluminum". We all know that aluminum becomes more and more popular in forging for its light weight compared to steel and brass. When buyers send a drawing of forged aluminum component to an aluminum forging supplier, the material specification (aluminum alloy) is already clearly marked in the bottom of the drawing. The material selected for aluminum forging will determine the final performance of products. So, it is quite vital to select a suitable alloy before manufacturing.
As a professional drop forging company, CFS Forge has many years' manufacturing and exporting experience in forged aluminum parts. We can supply aluminum forging and machining services with various aluminum alloys. If you are looking for a supplier for your aluminum forging project, pls contact us!
The traditional application of forged aluminum is mainly concentrated on sports cars or vehicles with low fuel consumption. The components produced include pistons, rims, valve shifter levers, suspension parts and other important structural force parts. The production cost of forged aluminum parts increases due to the high material cost and complicated manufacturing process, which hinders the applications of forged aluminum parts. At present, many countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc are actively researching and developing high-strength materials as well as forging processes so as to reduce the production cost of forged aluminum parts.
CFS Forge is the professional aluminum forging company for custom forged aluminum parts in China. Just pls contact us if you have any forged aluminum project.
Closed die forging is generally only applied in automotive application, such as automotive gearboxes, housings, flanges, etc. Closed die forging process can greatly improve the material utilization rate and lengthen the life of automotive parts for its good strength. At the same time, it reduces the production cost, thus, it is an ideal target for automotive parts production.
Above introduces the closed die forging process of automotive parts and comes up with new ideas in many designs and it was applied in many fields. This forging process can be widely used in other applications as well. CFS Forge can make closed die forgings in various metals, including steel, aluminum and brass. Any inquiry on closed die forging, pls contact us for a free quote right now!
Vehicle weight reduction is essentially the lightweight of automobile parts. With the forged aluminum alloy wheel hubs, it can greatly reduce the weight of the auto body. For instance, a 40-ton heavy-duty truck and semi-trailer transport system has a total of 22 wheel hubs. It will has 24 wheel hubs if the front and rare spare tires are considered. The vehicle weight will be reduced by nearly 600kg if we replace the frequent used steel hubs with aluminum forged ones. What is more, aluminum alloy materials have good heat dissipation, which can slow down the aging speed of tire rubber to a certain extent. Trucks, buses and trailers equipped with forged aluminum alloy wheels can save 26% of tire consumption.
A plenty of commercial vehicles are equipped with aluminum forged wheels in America and Canada. This also occurs in Europe, South Africa and Australia. Along with the development of China's automobile lightweight technology and the rising fuel prices in recent years, the replacement of traditional automobile wheels with aluminum alloy wheels has become a trend. As a professional drop forging manufacturer, we would like to describe a practical closed die forging process of aluminum alloy wheel hub, by using UG three-dimensional modeling, the forgings are designed and then the wheel hub closed tooling formwork is designed. Then the 3D model is imported into the Deform simulation analysis software to conduct the forging simulation. Based on the analysis of the simulation process, the blank displacement, the filling degree of the material as well as the temperature distribution, the forging general process is preliminarily obtained.
There are usually four kinds of defects caused by improper forging process of aluminum alloy:
1. Large-grained
Due to too high initial aluminum forging temperature and insufficient deformation degree, or too high final forging temperature, or deformation degree fell into the critical deformation zone. Aluminum alloy deformation degree is too large, forming texture; Superalloy deformation temperature is too low, the formation of mixed deformation microstructure may also cause coarse grains.
The ductility and toughness of aluminum forgings will be reduced and the fatigue performance will be obviously decreased. Uneven grain size: refers to the fact that the grain size in some parts of the forging is particularly large and smaller in some parts. The main reason for the unevenness of grains is that the unevenness of deformation in different parts of the blank results in different degree of grain breakage, or the degree of deformation in local areas falls into the critical deformation zone, or the local processing hardening of superalloy, or the local coarse grains in quenching.Heat resistant steels and superalloys are particularly sensitive to uneven grain size. The unevenness of grain will obviously decrease the endurance and fatigue performance of aluminum forgings.
1. Large-grained
Due to too high initial aluminum forging temperature and insufficient deformation degree, or too high final forging temperature, or deformation degree fell into the critical deformation zone. Aluminum alloy deformation degree is too large, forming texture; Superalloy deformation temperature is too low, the formation of mixed deformation microstructure may also cause coarse grains.
The ductility and toughness of aluminum forgings will be reduced and the fatigue performance will be obviously decreased. Uneven grain size: refers to the fact that the grain size in some parts of the forging is particularly large and smaller in some parts. The main reason for the unevenness of grains is that the unevenness of deformation in different parts of the blank results in different degree of grain breakage, or the degree of deformation in local areas falls into the critical deformation zone, or the local processing hardening of superalloy, or the local coarse grains in quenching.Heat resistant steels and superalloys are particularly sensitive to uneven grain size. The unevenness of grain will obviously decrease the endurance and fatigue performance of aluminum forgings.
Besides the control of aluminum forging temperature, the design of aluminum forging component is also very important. Parts design mainly includes the standards for machining allowances, parting line location, draft angles, corner and fillet radii for the aluminum forging.
Machining Allowances
Recommended machining allowance for aluminum forging is given in below Table.
| Greatest Dimension (mm) | Minimum Finish Stock per Surface (mm) |
| Less than 200 | 1.6 |
| 200 to 400 | 2.4 |
| 400 to 600 | 3.2 |
| 600 to 900 | 4 |
| More than 900 | 4.8 |
As shown above, the allowance is referred to as minimum finish stock per surface and is related to the largest dimension of forging. Machining allowance may be applied over the entire forging or to the surfaces to be machined. The finish allowance is applicable to all metals.
On the other hand, with the temperature increase of aluminum billets after heating, the forgeability of all aluminum alloys will also be improved. As the forgeability of each aluminum alloy is different, the heating temperature required during hot forging process is also different. Below picture shows forgeability of different aluminum alloys with respect to temperature changes are given. From this picture we can well see that as the temperature increases forgeability increases.