I. Full-Process Processing Technology
(1) Preliminary Forming Preprocessing
Early-stage preprocessing is the foundation for ensuring the quality of casting and forging processes. Its core revolves around “forming adaptation and proactive defect prevention,” with precise control over process parameters throughout the entire procedure to lay a solid foundation for subsequent forming operations.
1. Molding Planning: Based on the designed dimensions and mechanical performance requirements of the finished product, develop a tailored molding plan that clearly defines key parameters such as temperature, pressure, and time during the molding process. This plan should strike a balance between molding efficiency and product quality, while also preventing structural defects from occurring during molding.
2. Pre-forming pretreatment: Perform homogenization treatment on the billet before forming to ensure uniformity of its internal microstructure, eliminate inherent structural defects and stress variations, enhance the billet’s formability, and prevent cracking and deformation during subsequent forming processes.
3. Cleanliness Control: Remove impurities, oxide layers, and other contaminants from the surface of the blank and the forming contact surfaces to prevent residual impurities from causing defects such as inclusions and porosity after forming, thereby ensuring tight fit of the forming surface and dense structure of the finished product.
(2) Core Casting and Forging Process
Focusing on “homogeneous forming and dense structure,” we optimize the forming process based on the characteristics of the finished product, precisely control key forming parameters, and ensure that the casting and forging parts meet the required quality standards.
1. Precision Molding: Carry out casting and forging operations according to the planned scheme, strictly controlling the temperature gradient, pressure magnitude, and application rhythm during the molding process. Ensure uniform deformation or complete filling of the billet, closely matching the designed shape, and preventing issues such as under-molding, over-molding, and distortion.
2. Microstructure Control: By optimizing process parameters, the internal microstructure of cast and forged parts can be controlled to promote grain refinement, enhance microstructural density, and prevent internal defects such as porosity, segregation, and cracks, thereby ensuring that the finished products meet the required mechanical performance standards.
3. Post-molding cooling: Employ an appropriate cooling process to control the cooling rate and ensure uniform cooling, thereby preventing rapid cooling that could induce thermal stresses and cracks, or slow cooling that might lead to coarse microstructures. This approach balances molding stability with the quality of the internal microstructure.
(3) Subsequent Finishing Processes
As a key factor in optimizing the precision and appearance of finished products and enhancing their performance, the core focus revolves around “fine-tuning dimensions, eliminating defects, and strengthening performance,” while simultaneously balancing precision and durability.
1. Dimensional Finishing: Precisely shape and calibrate the dimensions of cast and forged parts after forming, remove excess material generated during the forming process, correct dimensional deviations, ensure that the finished product’s dimensions and geometric tolerances meet design standards, and achieve a smooth surface and well-defined contours.
2. Surface Treatment: Perform refined surface treatment on cast and forged parts to remove surface oxides, burrs, residual risers and sprues, optimize surface roughness, and prevent surface defects from compromising the service life and aesthetic quality of the finished products.
3. Defect Repair: Targeted repair treatments are applied to subtle defects on and near the surface, using suitable processes to fill tiny cracks, porosity, and other minor imperfections. After repair, the surface must be smooth and the structure firmly intact, without compromising the overall mechanical performance of the finished product.
(4) Performance Enhancement and Finished-Product Verification
Focus on “enhancing mechanical performance and conducting comprehensive, all-dimensional defect inspections” to ensure that finished products meet operational requirements and prevent substandard products from being released.
1. Performance Enhancement: Based on the mechanical performance requirements of the finished product, an appropriate strengthening process is employed to eliminate internal residual stresses and enhance the core properties of cast and forged parts, such as strength, hardness, and toughness, thereby enabling them to withstand complex operating conditions involving heavy loads and wear resistance.
2. Comprehensive Inspection: Conduct full-dimensional inspections on the strengthened castings and forgings, covering dimensional accuracy, geometric tolerances, surface quality, internal microstructure, and mechanical properties. Identify and eliminate all types of process defects to ensure that the finished products are flawless and meet performance standards.
3. Final Finishing of Finished Products: Perform final finishing on qualified castings and forgings, remove residual impurities from the surface, and verify that all product specifications meet the design standards and delivery requirements.
II. Key Control Points for Critical Processes
1. Control of Molding Parameters: Strictly monitor core parameters throughout all stages—including molding, cooling, and strengthening—and flexibly adjust them according to the characteristics of the finished product, thereby avoiding molding defects or substandard performance caused by parameter deviations.
2. Organization and Defect Control: Focus on strictly controlling the uniformity and compactness of internal structures, proactively identifying and addressing various forming defects to prevent issues such as cracks, porosity, and inclusions from compromising the service life of the finished product.
3. Precision Control: Strictly control dimensional accuracy and geometric tolerances, performing calibration throughout the entire process—from molding to finishing—to ensure that the finished products meet design standards and to avoid assembly issues caused by dimensional deviations.
4. Stress Control: Throughout the entire process, special attention is paid to eliminating residual stresses. By employing processes such as pre-treatment, optimized cooling, and performance enhancement, we minimize the accumulation of internal stresses, thereby preventing deformation and cracking during the product’s use.
5. Consistency Control: Standardize the operational procedures for each process step to ensure consistent quality of cast and forged parts in mass production, with performance and dimensions meeting uniform standards to meet the requirements of large-scale delivery.
