Cooling slope casting to produce EN AW 6082 forging stock for manufacture of suspension components

The potential of cooling slope casting process to produce EN AW 6082 forging stock for the manufacture of EN AW 6082 suspension components was investigated. EN AW 6082 billets cast over a cooling plate offer a fine uniform structure that can be forged even without a separate homogenization treatment. This is made it possible by the limited superheat of the melt at the start of casting and the fractional solidification that occurs already on the cooling plate. Suspension parts forged from cast and homogenized billets with or without Cr all showed a uniform structure, and the hardness reached HV 110 after the standard artificial ageing treatment

Potential of twin-belt-cast EN AW 6082 blanks for the manufacture of wishbone suspension forgings

Twin-belt-cast (TBC) strip is offered as forging stock for relatively flat, 2-dimensional forgings such as wishbone suspension. When forged, the fragmented eutectic cells of the TBC blank and the very fine precipitates are aligned in the forging direction with a section grain structure where much of the section is predominantly fibrous. The fibrous grains of the forged component undergo recrystallization and grain growth and are finally replaced by elongated grains in the plastic flow direction during solution heat treatment. Selection of the solutionizing temperature is claimed to be critical. The yield and tensile strength, elongation and hardness all decrease steadily with increasing solutionizing temperature due to grain coarsening. However, both the static and dynamic mechanical properties of the TBC EN AW 6082 blank compare favourably with the extruded forging stock, in spite of coarse grains across the entire section of the forging. After all, both suffer from coarse grains on the surface of the forging. It is thus concluded that the TBC EN AW blanks can be used for the manufacture of relatively flat, 2-dimensional automotive parts such as wishbone suspension components

Potential of horizontal direct chill cast EN AW 6082 rods as forging stock in the manufacture of light weight suspension components

Commercial EN AW 6082 rods cast at less than 50mm in diameter via horizontal casting appear to be adequate candidate as forging stock for the manufacture of small size automotive suspension components. Cast forging stock relies entirely on the forging deformation to develop the fibering known to be very beneficial for superior dynamic and impact properties. Hence, the forging die design is critical to ensure the sufficient amount and suitable orientation of fibering across the section of the component. Forgings produced from cast stock, submitted to an artificial ageing cycle directly after the forging step offer superior fatigue and impact energy values with respect to their counterparts processed with a solution heat treatment (SHT). The superior fatigue and impact energy values of the former are attributed to the particle characteristics; i.e. the spacing of void forming particles in these forgings is relatively smaller than in forgings processed with a separate SHT. The coalescence of voids at these particles eventually occurs at smaller loads and deteriorates toughness

Effect of Copper on Corrosion of Forged AlSi1MgMn Automotive Suspension Components

Recently, modifications in the alloy composition and the manufacturing process cycle were proposed to achieve a more uniform structure with no evidence of coarse grains across the section of the AlSi1MgMn alloys. Cu was added to the AlSi1MgMn alloy to improve its age hardening capacity without a separate solution heat treatment. However, Cu addition degrades the corrosion resistance of this alloy due to the formation of Al-Cu precipitates along the grain boundaries that are cathodic with respect to the aluminum matrix and thus encourage intergranular corrosion. The present work was undertaken to identify the impact of Cu addition on the corrosion properties of AlSi1MgMn alloys with different Cu contents. A series of AlSi1MgMn alloys with 0.06-0.89 wt.% Cu were tested in order to identify an optimum level of Cu addition

Processing of high strength EN AW 6082 forgings without a solution heat treatment

Light weight EN AW 6082 alloy forgings are used extensively in automotive suspension components. The conventional production cycle involves a solution heat treatment that is responsible not only for coarse surface grains, potentially degrading for fatigue properties, but also for microstructural features that reduce the impact toughness. The separate solution treatment may be omitted if hot forging operation is fine tuned to solutionize sufficient Mg and Si during forging to offer adequate age hardening during the subsequent artificial ageing cycle. Uniform structures with a predominantly fine fibrous core thus obtained, ensure better fatigue and impact properties and a longer service life. The proposed process not only improves the quality of the automotive suspension components but also offers significant cost savings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Processing of high strength EN AW 6082 forgings without a solution heat treatment

Light weight EN AW 6082 alloy forgings are used extensively in automotive suspension components. The conventional production cycle involves a solution heat treatment that is responsible not only for coarse surface grains, potentially degrading for fatigue properties, but also for microstructural features that reduce the impact toughness. The separate solution treatment may be omitted if hot forging operation is fine tuned to solutionize sufficient Mg and Si during forging to offer adequate age hardening during the subsequent artificial ageing cycle. Uniform structures with a predominantly fine fibrous core thus obtained, ensure better fatigue and impact properties and a longer service life. The proposed process not only improves the quality of the automotive suspension components but also offers significant cost savings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Effect of Copper on Corrosion of Forged AlSi1MgMn Automotive Suspension Components

Recently, modifications in the alloy composition and the manufacturing process cycle were proposed to achieve a more uniform structure with no evidence of coarse grains across the section of the AlSi1MgMn alloys. Cu was added to the AlSi1MgMn alloy to improve its age hardening capacity without a separate solution heat treatment. However, Cu addition degrades the corrosion resistance of this alloy due to the formation of Al-Cu precipitates along the grain boundaries that are cathodic with respect to the aluminum matrix and thus encourage intergranular corrosion. The present work was undertaken to identify the impact of Cu addition on the corrosion properties of AlSi1MgMn alloys with different Cu contents. A series of AlSi1MgMn alloys with 0.06-0.89 wt.% Cu were tested in order to identify an optimum level of Cu addition