Near net shape casting process for producing high strength 6xxx aluminum alloy automobile suspension parts

The automobile suspension parts of a high strength 6xxx aluminum alloy were produced using a novel technique known as near net shape casting for forging stock preparation. Based on the outline dimension of the forging stock, the shape of the ingot was designed as the near net shape and its casting process was studied by the numerical simulation and experimental investigation. The results show that the shrinkage of the ingot was highly correlated to its shape parameters and could be successfully forecast by the stimulation model. The casting parameters of the near net shape ingot were optimized and the near net shape 6xxx aluminum alloy ingots free of defects were cast in the laboratory. In order to obtain high performance forged suspension parts, the hot compression tests of the ingot were carried out. The results show that the subgrain fraction of the forged ingot was strongly affected by Zener-Hollomon parameters (Z parameters). The intermediate Z parameters, 1.09x10(16) s(-1), will contribute to the larger number fraction of subgrains inside the forged ingot, which contributes to the high performance of the forged products.