APPLICATION OF THE 2D FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD TO SIMULATION OF COLD-FORGING PROCESSES

In recent years, computer aided engineering (CAE) techniques have been increasingly applied with great success in metal-forming research, as well as in the cold- and hot-forging industry. Initially, computer simulation of metal flow and detailed stress analysis of dies were conducted by forging companies that supply the aerospace industry (J. Mater. Process. Technol., 27 (1991) 43-51). During the last several years, however, the two dimensional computer code DEFORM, developed by Battelle Columbus Laboratories and supported by Scientific Forming Technologies Co., has been fully commercialized. This code is now used extensively also by non-aerospace forgers for the investigation of die fill, defect analysis and prevention, as well as for prediction of part properties. At the Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing (ERC/NSM), DEFORM is one of the available computer aided tools used in cold-forging research and for educational purposes. This paper, adapted for cold-forging applications from an earlier publication (J. Mater. Process. Technol., 33 (1992) 31-55) summarizes industrially relevant research results obtained with DEFORM. It reports on an investigation of a suck-in type extrusion defect, forging of bevel gears, stress analysis of forging tooling, design of multi-stage cold-forging operations, design of a net-shape cold-forging operation for pipe fittings and development of a new test to evaluate lubrication in cold forging.