Warm forging of magnesium AZ80 alloy for the control arm in an automobile

Abstract

With the growing environmental concerns surrounding transportation machines, magnesium alloy, which has an excellent specific strength, good vibration damping and a high electromagnetic shielding capability, is increasingly being used in automobile body parts in order to reduce the carbon emissions and to increase the energy efficiency through a reduction in the mass. However, forming techniques with magnesium alloy at room temperature pose considerable difficulty owing to its strong plastic anisotropy of tension and compression. In this study, a control arm, which is a complex-shaped part in the suspension system of a vehicle, was warm forged with Mg-8 mass % Al-0.5 mass % Zn (AZ80) alloy to reduce the mass. To validate the applicability of the magnesium alloy control arm in the automobile, its microstructure and its mechanical properties were analysed.