FINITE-ELEMENT SIMULATION OF POWDER-METAL FORMING

A two-dimensional finite-element computer program, BULK2PM, has been developed to perform the simulation of sinter-forming processes. The code allows the analysis of the forming of complex parts and gives the distribution of the principal field-variables, including the density. The paper describes the finite-element flow formulation for powder-metal forming. The constitutive equations of porous materials are presented and the formulation is shown to be equivalent to the penalty approach used in the modeling of dense-material forming. Contact problems that emerge from the high deformations suffered by the workpiece and the complexity that tools can present are considered also. A simple but efficient re-meshing scheme is included also for the simulation of large plastic-deformation processes. A numerical example concerning the axisymmetric closed-die forging of a porous material is presented, in order to show the application of the finite-element code.