Description:
<jats:p>The present paper is focused on the thixo lateral forging of a nearly 3 Kg commercial automotive spindle. A thixoforming cell has been implemented in the forming lab consisting on an induction unit, six-axes industrial robot for the handling tasks and a servo-mechanical forming press. A special tool has also been designed in order to use all the press capacity during the forming stage. First trials have been made using LTT45 steel. The usual material for this spindle fabrication is a CrMo alloyed steel (W-Nr 1.7225) employed in automotive components with high requirements on toughness. The selected thixoforming steel has been modified to have a wider solidification range and lower solidus temperature.</jats:p>