Review on the current progress of thixoforming process

Thixoforming is comparatively a recent semi-solid metal forming process that potentially uses the rheological behaviour of certain metals with non-dendritic microstructures. In contrast to the conventional forming process where the metals in either the solid or liquid state are subjected to a working load, the thixoforming uses a semi-solid slurry as feed material in which the non-dendritic solid particles are suspended in the liquid matrix. The thixoforming process is claimed to exhibit superior quality products by reducing the commonly observed defects such as shrinkage, porosity and macrosegration to a greater extent. As a result, many sectors have embraced the thixoforming technology such as the automotive industry for manyfacturing automotive comonet, piping systems and pistons without compromising on the efficiency. This review article focuses on the thixoforming processes for metal alloys, rheological, optimization of semi-solid slurry, potential applications, process parameters, heat treatment, advantages and disadvantages, and future scope.