Metal flow and die wear in semi-solid forging of steel using coated dies

Thixoforging of steels is a potential forming technology, which aims at producing near-net-shaped components with good quality from high strength steels in one forging step. The thixoforging process parameters such as billet temperature, temperature distribution after reheating, argon gas pressure, transportation time and forging load were investigated on the thixoforging of non axis-symmetric parts of steel grade X210CrW12. The experimental and numerical study of the material flow and tool temperature load reveal the areas of intensive tool wear, thus being useful for further tool design. Hardened hot working steel X38CrMoV5-1 as a tool bulk material with protecting thin films of TiAlN/γ-Al2O3 shows good experimental results at 170 forging cycles.