Monolithic wheels, esp. of aluminium alloy, for heavy motor vehicles - made by hot forging and flow forming, suitable for tubeless tyres

摘要

The novelty is that the blank consists of a cylindrical disc shaped by combined forging, flow forming and stretching. The pref. shaping operations consist of theree hot forging steps which form a bulge on the periphery of the blank and convert the bulge to a rim. Between the second and third forging steps the wheel hub is pierced, and forging is followed by flow forming operations and machining. Alternative shaping steps are also included. Heavy vehicles use 12-16 wheels, plus 1-2 spares, the total wheel wt. being 700-900 kg. The invention produces a saving in wt. of 300-400 kg as compared with the use of deep-drawn and welded steel wheels.