Testing an Injection Forging Process for the Production of Automotive Fasteners

Abstract

Competition in the automotive fasteners production has been fierce and there are needs for higher quality, lower manufacturing-cost and fast delivery. To meet such needs, injection forging of automotive fasteners for possible industrial production has been investigated, considering its potential of forming complex-shaped components with shorter process chains. Initially, a comparison study on existing multi-stage forming and injection forging was conducted, supported by FE simulations, through which the feasibility of using injection forging for producing one type of fasteners was established preliminarily. The process was then tested through forming experiments based on which component accuracy, formed-material hardness and grain-flow lines were examined to evaluate the quality of the fasteners formed. Further, a manufacturing trial was carried out in the industry to examine the process feasibility in the industrial environment. Besides the parts with good quality having been achieved, the requirement for higher forming-force and the consequence as larger die-deflections were also identified through these studies. Based on the results obtained, improvements on the process and tool-design were proposed, focusing on the forming-force reduction and higher part-dimension accuracy.