Session: MF-01-02 Application of Fracture Mechanics in Failure Assessment II

Paper Number: 62263

Start Time: Thursday, July 15, 2021, 09:00 AM

62263 - Review on the Current Progress of Thixoforming Process 

Thixoforming is comparatively a recent semi-solid metal forming process that potentially uses the rheological behaviour of certain metals with non-dendritic microstructures. In contrast to the conventional forming process where the metals in either the solid or liquid state are subjected to a working load, the thixoforming uses a semi-solid slurry as feed material in which the non-dendritic solid particles are suspended in the liquid matrix. The thixoforming process is claimed to exhibit superior quality products by reducing the commonly observed defects such as shrinkage, porosity and macrosegration to a greater extent. Therefore, the thixoforming technology has been adopted in the automotive industry for manufacturing automobile parts without any compromise in the quality. On the contrary, this state-of-art process is expensive compared to the conventional forming process. In addition, the lack of manufacturing process for recycling the left-over billets for the thixoforming process and limited selection of materials are the major drawbacks. Over the last decade, vast research in thixoforming methods have been carried out to overcome the shortcomings and therefore, an extensive review on the current progress of thixoforming methods and applications is highly demanded. This review article focusses on the thixoforming processes for metal alloys, rheological material behaviour, morphology, optimization of semi-solid slurry, potential applications, process parameters, heat treatment, advantages and disadvantages, and future scope.

Presenting Author: Shubhra Shitole United Arab Emirates University

Authors:

Shubhra Shitole United Arab Emirates University
Abdel-Hamid Ismail Mourad United Arab Emirates University