Robustness of a Thixoforming Production Line

The development of the thixoforming process made great progress since its beginning. But whereas thixoforming of aluminium and other low melting point alloys is now an industrial reality, thixoforming of high melting point alloys, as steel, is still at the research level. High temperature issues, die wearing and production rate are problems that must be solved and are more and more investigated. This work is a study of the robustness of a complete thixoforming unit dealing with steel. This flexible unit allows parts of various shapes be formed in conditions close to industrial ones. The study focus on the heating strategy, heat exchanges between the slug and the tool, the feeding and the cycle time. In this work, modelling has been used to simulate heating and feeding. In parallel, experiments have been made to obtain the needed parameters, to validate the modelling and to evaluate the capacities of such a line.