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Metal flowing and microstructure characteristics of the micro inner gear ring fabricated by rheological extrusion

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Abstract

The 2A50 aluminum alloy micro inner gear rings were fabricated using a rheological extrusion process. Metal flowing and microstructure characteristics of the micro inner gear rings in rheological extrusion were investigated by finite element simulation and experiments, respectively. The microstructures of the tooth, bottom land, and non-dentiform region were considered as representative sections of the inner gear ring. Results reveal that during the rheological extrusion process, the metal exhibited a continuous flow from the periphery toward the center of the billet along the radial direction, meticulously filling the tooth spaces of the mandrel. Concurrently, a gradual decline in flow velocity was observed. The grains in the teeth and bottom lands were fine and elongated along the flowing lines, whereas those in the non-dentiform region were similar to the semi-solid slurry with nearly equiaxed grains. The microstructure of the micro inner gear rings predominantly consisted of recrystallized grains and substructures. In non-dentiform regions, the proportion of recrystallized grains was remarkably higher than that of the substructure. The average grain size of the microstructure of the inner gear ring ranged between 14.04 and 20.05 μm. The grain size in the tooth was sensitive to the extruded temperature and showed an increment of approximately 36.3% when the temperature increased from 575 °C to 590 °C. This phenomenon suggests that low temperature in the semi-solid range was advantageous for the microstructure and mechanical performance of the inner gear ring. No pronounced texture was detected in the micro inner gear rings, and the peak intensity (4.81) in the pole figures was found in the bottom land at the extruded temperature of 590 °C, suggesting a relatively weak {112} < 126 > texture. This process recommends a propitious technique for the fabrication of components with microfeatures.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.52105397), the Joint Fund for Aerospace Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Key Program (Grant No. U1937203), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52275373), the Research on Innovative Applications of Aerospace Technology (Grant No. 1A0A9FC6), and the Fund of the National Key Laboratory of Metal Forming Technology and Heavy Equipment (Grant No. S2208100.W01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Hong Jiang, Yongfei Wang & Shengdun Zhao

  2. College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Peng Dong

  3. College of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Peng Zhang

  4. National Key Laboratory of Metal Forming Technology and Heavy Equipment, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Yongfei Wang

  5. AVIC Xi’an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute, Xi’an, 710076, China

    Long An

  6. Shanghai BYD Company Limited, Shanghai, 201605, China

    Hao Li

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  1. Hong Jiang
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Jiang, H., Dong, P., Zhang, P. et al. Metal flowing and microstructure characteristics of the micro inner gear ring fabricated by rheological extrusion. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 131, 1587–1600 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-024-13188-5

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