Page 86 - eBook_Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing V2

Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing –
Volume 2

SSMP comprises three essential stages: preparation of the
feedstock, reheating or maintaining it in a semi-solid state, and the
final forming process. During preparation, the microstructure of
the billet is transformed from dendritic to spheroidal using
techniques tailored to the material’s composition, weight, and
dimensions. The spheroidal billet is then uniformly reheated
typically via induction heating to reach the semi-solid temperature
range required for forming. Afterward, it is processed through
casting or forging, known as thixocasting or thixoforging. These
methods require less force due to the spheroidal microstructure
(Tajudin, Ahmad, Alias, Razak & Alang, 2023; Atkinson, 2007;
Ahmad, Naher & Brabazon, 2014).

SSMP is generally categorised into two primary techniques:
rheocasting and thixoforming, where the latter is also referred to
as thixocasting and thixoforging (Chang et al., 2020; Benjunior,
Ahmad & Rashidi, 2020; Lu, Liu & Zhu, 2023; Liu, Atkinson,
Kapranos, Kirkwood & Hogg, 2003; Alshekhly, Omar, Salleh &
Alhawari, 2014; Ji, Wang & Dong, 2022). The distinctions
between these two methods are illustrated in Figure .

Figure 29: Schematic overview of the principal methods used in
SSMP (Ji, Wang & Dong, 2022).

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