Coil design of inductive heating and reheating process of aluminum alloys for thixoforming

摘要

A thixoforming is relatively new process for metal forming in the semi-solid state to near net shaped components. It has a lot of advantages compared to the die casting, squeeze casting and conventional forging. For the thixoforming process beside an existing solidus-liquidus interval, the reheating conditions to obtain the globular microstructure are very important. To obtain the globular microstructure in cross section of billet, the optimal design of the induction coil is necessary. Therefore, in this study the optimal coil design to minimize electromagnetic end effect will be proposed. In particular, key point in induction heating process is focussed on optimizing the coil design with regard to the sie of the heating billet and the frequency of induction heating system. 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 finite element analysis model for reheating process have been proposed. The proposed reheating D/B and this model based on the optimal coil design would be useful to obtain a fine globular microstructure.