JP2003019533A - Method for producing aluminum alloy-made forged part and its producing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a productivity when a forged part is produced. SOLUTION: An apparatus 1 for producing an aluminum alloy-made forged part is provided with a shearing machine 7 for short size which shears a long size material L of the aluminum alloy into the short-size materials S having a prescribed length, a peeling device 9 for peeling the short-size material S after shearing, a heating furnace 11 for performing a soaking treatment to the short-size material S after peeling and heating for forging and a forging device 12 for performing the forging work to the short-size material S after heat treatment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part manufactured by forging an aluminum alloy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, aluminum alloys have been used for various purposes because they are lightweight and easy to process. For example, a vehicle such as an automobile is required to be light in weight from the viewpoint of improving fuel efficiency, and therefore many parts made of aluminum alloy are used. Among them, forged parts made of aluminum alloys for automobiles (hereinafter referred to as forged parts) typified by suspension parts are 5000 in order to satisfy required mechanical strength and toughness.
It is manufactured by forging aluminum alloys of 6000 series and 6000 series, and their improved alloys. And such a forged part is a casting rod of a predetermined length that has been subjected to homogenization treatment, or
It is manufactured using an extruded rod as a raw material.

A conventional example of a method for manufacturing such a forged part will be described with reference to FIG. First,
A raw material such as aluminum ingot is used in step S101 in FIG.
In the melting step of No. 3, while being melted in the melting furnace, a refining agent and a predetermined alloy element are added to produce a molten aluminum alloy. Then, this molten metal is processed in step S102.
After the component composition adjustment and degassing process of
In the continuous casting process 103, a billet having a predetermined diameter is continuously cast. The billet is sequentially cut into a long material having a predetermined length in the running cutting step of step S104. The long material obtained by the traveling cutting is introduced into the heating furnace and is subjected to the homogenization treatment step of step S105, and the segregation layer on the surface is removed in the peeling step of step S106. Then, the long material that has finished the peeling process is cut into short members having the predetermined forging material dimension length in the short cutting process of step S107. These short materials are inspected in the inspection process in step S108 for the presence of internal defects and the like.
In the heating step of 109, after being heated again to the forging temperature in the heating furnace for forging, it is subjected to the forging step in step S110 and molded as a forged part.

[0004]

However, in such a method for manufacturing a forged part, the following process is performed in order to perform the homogenization treatment step (step S105) and the peeling step (step S106) on a long material. There was such a problem. First, since the long material generally has a length of several meters, the furnace for processing the long material and the peeling device are inevitably large, which has been a cause of increasing the size of the entire equipment.

In addition, a homogenization treatment step (step S10
In the case of 5), batch processing is adopted, and it is necessary to raise and lower the temperature of the processing furnace for each batch, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of increasing the efficiency of thermal energy. In addition to this, in order to uniformly heat-treat a large number of long materials stacked in one batch, there is a problem that the holding time must be long and the heating must be sufficient.

Further, a peeling process (step S10)
In 6), the vicinity of the center in the longitudinal direction of the long material attached to the peeling device sometimes hangs down due to its own weight, although it is a small amount. In such a case, the segregation layer may remain on the surface of the long material. on the other hand,
To prevent this, increase the diameter of the billet in advance,
Although the cutting amount of the cutting tool is increased at the time of peeling, when the cutting amount is increased, there is a problem that the material yield is deteriorated.

Then, the homogenization treatment step (step S10
5) When the short material is cut (step S107) after the peeling step (step S106), the temperature of the aluminum alloy decreases to about room temperature during this, so that the short material can be forged from room temperature in the heating step of step S109. The temperature has to be raised to a certain temperature, resulting in an increase in takt time and a decrease in energy efficiency. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to improve production efficiency in manufacturing forged parts.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention, which solves the above-mentioned problems, provides a continuous casting process of an aluminum alloy and a long material by cutting the billet cast by the continuous casting process. Running cutting step, a short cutting step of cutting the long material cut in the running cutting step to a short material of a predetermined length, a peeling step of peeling the short material after the short cutting step, and a short material after the peeling step A method for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part including a flaw detection inspection step for performing flaw detection inspection, a heat treatment step for heat treating the short material after the flaw detection inspection step, and a forging step for forging the short material heat treated by the heat treatment step .

In the method of manufacturing such an aluminum alloy forged part, peeling is performed on a short material. Since the short material does not bend in the longitudinal direction due to its short length, the segregation layer formed on the surface of the short material can be reliably removed even if the cutting amount of the cutting tool during peeling is minimized. it can. Further, by continuously performing from continuous casting to forging, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is
The method of manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment step includes a homogenization treatment step of homogenizing the short material, and a heating step of heating the short material to a forging temperature subsequent to the homogenization treatment step. And will consist of

By continuously performing the homogenizing treatment and the heating for forging in this way, cooling between the both steps and re-heating can be omitted, which were performed in the conventional technique. Therefore, it is possible to improve the energy efficiency of the entire manufacturing process and shorten the tact time.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is a cutting means for cutting a long material obtained by running and cutting a billet of an aluminum alloy obtained by continuous casting into a short material of a predetermined length, and peeling the short material. Peeling device, a flaw detection device for flaw detection of the short material after peeling, a first heating means for homogenizing the short material after flaw detection, and the first heating means, followed by the forging temperature of the short material The manufacturing apparatus for an aluminum alloy forged part has a second heating means for heating and a forging device for forging a short material heated by the second heating means.

In such an aluminum alloy forged component manufacturing apparatus, since peeling is performed on a short material, the peeling apparatus can be downsized and the segregation layer can be removed reliably with good yield. In addition, energy efficiency is improved by continuously performing homogenization treatment and heating to the forging temperature,
The tact time can be shortened.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 of the present invention is
The manufacturing apparatus for an aluminum alloy forged part according to claim 3, comprising a continuous heating furnace provided with a first heating means and a second heating means, and the continuous heating furnace comprises the first heating means. A homogenizing zone as a means and a heating zone as a second heating means are partitioned by an opening / closing door.

The manufacturing apparatus of such an aluminum alloy forged part can be simplified by performing homogenization treatment and heating for forging in one continuous heating furnace. In addition, if homogenization treatment and heating are performed continuously,
Since the cooling process and the temperature raising process again are omitted, it is possible to improve energy efficiency and production efficiency.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an aluminum alloy forged component manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a continuous heating furnace used in a manufacturing process. Further, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a manufacturing process of an aluminum alloy forged part.

As shown in FIG. 1, an apparatus 1 for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part (hereinafter referred to as a forged part) according to the present embodiment comprises an aluminum ingot, a melting furnace 2 for melting necessary additional elements, and an alloy. A holding furnace 3 for finely adjusting the component composition, a degassing apparatus 4 for degassing, a continuous casting machine 5 for continuously casting the billet B from the degassed molten metal, and a long material for the billet B. A traveling cutting machine 6 for traveling and cutting to L, a short cutting machine 7 as a cutting means for further cutting the long material L into a plurality of short materials S, and a chamfering processing machine 8 for chamfering the short material S. , A peeling device 9 for peeling the short material S after chamfering, a flaw detection inspection device 10 for inspecting internal defects and the like of the short material S after peeling, and continuous heating for heat treatment of those satisfying predetermined criteria. Furnace 11 and heat treatment It is composed of short material S and a forging device 12 for pressing. In addition, in the manufacturing apparatus 1, those which do not satisfy the predetermined standard in the inspection by the flaw detection inspection machine 10 are removed as scraps and reused as a melting raw material.

The continuous casting machine 5 has a tundish 52 and a mold 53, and the degassed molten metal is poured from the gutter 51 into the tundish 52. The continuous casting machine 5 introduces the molten metal poured into the tundish 52 into the mold 53 to continuously cast the billet B.

Further, the traveling cutting machine 6 has a cutting portion 62 capable of traveling on the rail 61 in the pushing direction of the billet B at the same speed, and the cutting portion 62 holds the billet B and a billet (not shown). A cutter 63 for cutting is provided. The cutting unit 62 of the traveling cutting machine 6 starts cutting the billet B while holding the billet B in the vicinity of the target length while traveling. When the billet B is cut, the holding of the billet B is released, the billet B is returned to the initial position, and the billet B is prepared for the next cutting. Such a traveling cutting machine 6
By using, the long material L can be obtained without stopping the casting process.

The short length cutting machine 7 is a device for cutting one long length L into a large number of short lengths S having a predetermined length, and a fixed type is used. Also, the chamfering machine 8
Is an apparatus for chamfering between 20 to 30 mm of both ends of the short material S in the longitudinal direction. The chamfering facilitates gripping the short material S during peeling and facilitates shaving with a cutting tool for peeling. Further, this chamfering process also has an effect of preventing the occurrence of forging defects such as cracks at both ends of the short material S in the forging process performed later.
The peeling device 9 is configured to include a gripping portion that grips both ends of the chamfered short material S and a cutting tool that turns the segregation layer on the surface of the short material S.

The flaw detector 10 irradiates the short material S with ultrasonic waves and measures the reflected waves thereof to check for flaws, internal defects, and the like. A water tank filled with running water and a water tank An ultrasonic sensor configured to be slidable with respect to one another, and
It is composed of a predetermined control device. The ultrasonic sensor irradiates ultrasonic waves while sliding along the longitudinal direction of the short material S carried in one by one by the conveyor 81 into the water tank filled with running water, and performs flaw detection inspection of the short material S. .

The continuous heating furnace 11 shown in FIG. 2 has two partition walls 22 and 23 which can be opened and closed freely. The first partition wall 22 of the partition walls divides a temperature rising zone for heating the carried-in short material S to a predetermined temperature and a homogenization zone for performing a homogenization treatment, and a second partition wall. Wall 23
Divides the homogenization zone and the heating zone for adjusting the temperature of the short material S to the forging temperature. The length of each zone is adjusted according to the short length of the processing time, and the short material S is transferred from the temperature rising zone by the transporting means 24 including a known conveyor.
It is conveyed to the heating zone through the homogenization zone.

The continuous heating furnace 11 can control the temperature rising zone, the homogenization zone, and the heating zone at different temperatures. For example, when the continuous heating furnace 11 is a gas furnace that uses the combustion heat of gas, the fuel amount of gas is controlled for each zone. In addition, the continuous heating furnace 11
Is an electric furnace that utilizes the heat generated when the electric resistance is energized, the amount of current supplied to each zone is controlled.

In the continuous heating furnace 11 shown in FIG.
The portion corresponding to the homogenization zone corresponds to the first heating means, and the portion corresponding to the heating zone corresponds to the second heating means. Further, although only one short material S is shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to convey a large number of short materials S in a state of being housed in a housing container. In addition, when a large number of short materials S are placed on a plane by using the storage container as a pallet, each short material S is uniformly heated, so that the material quality can be further stabilized.

Further, the forging device 12 includes a plurality of press dies, for example, a bending die for bending a material, a blaster die and a blocker die which are dies for rough forming and forging, and a final shape. It has a finisher mold, which is a mold for finishing.

The manufacturing process of the forged part by the manufacturing apparatus 1 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, raw materials such as aluminum ingot and the scrap material and alloy component elements are charged into the melting furnace 2 and melted to form a molten aluminum alloy. Next, in step S2, component composition adjustment and degassing treatment are performed. In this step, first, the molten metal is introduced into the holding furnace 3 and necessary constituent elements are added so as to have a predetermined alloy constituent composition to finely adjust to a predetermined aluminum alloy. Further, after that, the molten metal is introduced into the degassing treatment device 4 to remove the hydrogen gas dissolved in the molten metal. Here, in order to remove the hydrogen gas, known methods such as fluxing and chlorine refining are adopted. In addition, in the holding furnace 3, removal of non-metallic inclusions and temperature adjustment of the molten metal are also performed.

In the subsequent step S3 of continuous casting, the molten aluminum alloy is solidified in the continuous casting machine 5 and extruded as a billet B. The extruded billet B is guided by the casting conveyor 54 and sent to the traveling cutting machine 6 in the next step.

In step S4, the billet B is cut by running the long material L. The traveling cutting is performed by the traveling cutting machine 6 described above.
The long material L obtained by cutting is sent to the cross conveyor 71. The cross conveyor 71 conveys the billet B in the orthogonal direction, and the long material L carried out by the cross conveyor 71 is once stocked on the stock conveyor 72. Then, the long material L stocked on the stock conveyor 72 is delivered to the short cutting machine 7 one by one. If the length of the long material L cut and run in step S4 is set to an integral multiple of the length of the short material S to be described later (including the cutting margin), generation of scraps can be prevented. Therefore, the material yield can be improved.

Further, in step S5, the long material L
Is a short material S having a length predetermined by the short cutting machine 7 according to the size and shape of the forged part (for example, a length of 20 to 70c).
Short cut into m). In this embodiment, the aluminum alloy is cut into the short length material S at this stage to improve the efficiency of the subsequent processing.

The short material S cut into short pieces is conveyed by the conveyor 8
After being conveyed by No. 1 and subjected to chamfering by the chamfering processing machine 8, it is peeled by the peeling device 9 in step S6. One of the features of this embodiment is that peeling is performed on the short material S. this is,
Since the short material S has a short length and does not sag due to its own weight, even if the cutting amount of the cutting tool is the minimum required,
This is because the segregation layer on the surface of the short material S can be reliably removed and the material yield can be improved.

The short material S after peeling is conveyed to the flaw detector 10 by the conveyor 81. The short material S conveyed to the flaw detection device 10 is subjected to flaw detection inspection (step S7) after the adhered substances such as fine chips and cutting oil adhering to the surface in the previous step have been removed by washing with industrial water. The short material S satisfying a predetermined standard is loaded into a storage container (not shown) by the robot 91 and conveyed to the next step.

Then, the homogenizing treatment in step S8 and the heating for forging in step S9 are performed as shown in FIG.
It is performed by the continuous heating furnace 11. Note that step S8
The homogenization treatment of 1 and the heating for forging in step S9 correspond to the heat treatment step.

Here, FIG. 4A shows an example of a temperature rising curve of the continuous heating furnace 11. As a comparative example, FIG.
(B) shows a temperature rising curve when homogenization treatment and heating for forging are performed using two different heating furnaces. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4A, in the present embodiment, the short material S
Is first heated in the temperature rising zone from room temperature RT according to the temperature rising curve P1. Then, when the temperature of the short material W stabilizes at the predetermined temperature T1 (500 to 550 ° C.), the partition wall 22 is opened and the short material S is carried into the homogenization zone by the transporting means 24. Then, holding P2 for homogenization is performed in this homogenization zone. The holding time at the temperature T1 is 3 to 6 hours, and when the holding time ends, the partition wall 23 opens, so that the short material S is carried into the heating zone,
Heating P3 for forging is performed. Here, the short material S
Is held at a temperature T2 (450 to 480 ° C.) for 0.1 hour. The short material S whose holding time has ended is taken out from the continuous heating furnace 1 and forged. Note that, in FIG. 2, the transport speed of the transport means 24 in the homogenization zone is adjusted so that the short material S whose holding time ends reaches the partition wall 23.

On the other hand, the comparative example is a case where after the homogenization treatment P2 is performed, the material temperature is once returned to room temperature RT and peeling is performed, and then the heating P6 for forging is performed. In comparison, extra time is required for the cooling P4 after the homogenization treatment P2 and the temperature rise P5 for the heating P6 for forging. Further, since the temperature T2 of the heating P6 for forging needs to be stabilized, the holding time of the heating P6 for forging needs to be as long as 0.5 to 2 hours. In other words, in the present embodiment, the homogenization treatment P2 and the forging heating P3 are continuously performed in the single continuous heating furnace 11 as illustrated in FIG. 2 to reduce the treatment time. The energy utilization efficiency can be improved.

Then, in step S10, the robot 9 moves the short material S carried out from the continuous heating furnace 11 shown in FIG.
In step 2, the material is loaded into the forging device 12, and the short material S is forged to be molded into automobile parts. Incidentally, prior to this forging step, roll forming or preforming by pressing may be performed. The automobile parts formed through this forging process are subjected to trimming processing because burrs generated by the forging process are attached.

When the forged part is manufactured as shown in this embodiment, the short material S is cut (step S5) and then peeled (step S6), so that the removal residue of the segregation layer due to the deflection of the material can be prevented. Also, the material yield can be improved. Further, since the peeling device 9 can be downsized, it contributes to equipment cost and site area saving. Further, the homogenization treatment (step S8) and the heating treatment for forging (step S9) are performed in one continuous heating furnace 11
By continuously performing (see FIG. 2), it is possible to improve energy utilization efficiency and shorten tact time.

Although the present embodiment is a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus for forging an aluminum alloy, the forged parts are not limited to automobile parts but forged parts for other uses. It is also possible. In addition, homogenization treatment of the short material S is performed using one continuous heating furnace 11 (step S
8) Alternatively, instead of performing heating for forging (step S9), homogenization treatment and heating for forging may be performed by two heating furnaces as shown in the comparative example of FIG. 4 (b). It is possible.

[0038]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present invention,
Peeling is performed after cutting the aluminum alloy into short pieces, so that the segregation layer can be reliably removed. Moreover, since the amount of aluminum alloy removed from the short material can be minimized, the material yield can be improved. Furthermore, the efficiency of the manufacturing process can be improved by consistently performing from continuous casting to forging.
Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the homogenization treatment and the heating for forging are continuously performed, it is possible to improve the energy efficiency and shorten the tact time.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention, since the short material of the aluminum alloy is peeled, the material yield can be improved. Furthermore, the energy efficiency of the entire manufacturing apparatus can be improved by continuously performing the homogenization treatment and the heating for forging. According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention, since the homogenization treatment and the heating for forging are performed in one continuous heating furnace, the manufacturing apparatus can be simplified and the production efficiency can be improved. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an aluminum alloy forged component manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a continuous heating furnace.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing process of an aluminum alloy forged part in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a heating pattern for heat treatment according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4B is a heating pattern for comparison.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a conventional manufacturing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Manufacturing equipment 7 Short cutting machine (cutting means) 9 Peeling device 10 flaw detector 11 Continuous heating furnace 12 Forging equipment 22,23 Partition wall 24 transportation means B billet L long material S short material

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A continuous casting step of an aluminum alloy, a running cutting step of cutting a billet cast by the continuous casting step to obtain a long material, and a predetermined length of the long material cut by running in the running cutting step. Short cutting step of cutting into short material of length, peeling step of peeling the short material after the short cutting step, flaw detection inspection step of performing flaw detection inspection of the short material after the peeling step, and after the flaw inspection step 2. A method for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part, comprising: a heat treatment step of heat-treating the short material, and a forging step of forging the short material heat-treated by the heat treatment step. 2. The heat treatment step comprises a homogenization treatment step of homogenizing the short material, and a heating step of heating the short material to a forging temperature subsequent to the homogenization treatment step. The method for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part according to claim 1. 3. A cutting means for cutting a long material obtained by running and cutting an aluminum alloy billet obtained by continuous casting into a short material having a predetermined length, a peeling device for peeling the short material, and the short material after peeling. A flaw detection device for flaw detection of the material, a first heating means for homogenizing the short material after flaw detection, and a second heating for heating the short material to a forging temperature following the first heating means. An apparatus for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged part, comprising: a means and a forging apparatus for forging the short material heated by the second heating means. 4. A continuous heating furnace provided with the first heating means and the second heating means, wherein the continuous heating furnace is a homogenization zone serving as the first heating means. The apparatus for manufacturing an aluminum alloy forged component according to claim 3, wherein the heating zone serving as the second heating means is partitioned by an opening / closing door.