Real-time process characterization of open die forging for adaptive control

Open die forging is a process in which products are made through repeated, incremental plastic deformations of a workpiece. Typically, the workpiece is held by a manipulator, which can position the workpiece through program control between the dies of a press. The part programs are generated with an empirically derived parameter, called the spread coefficient, whose value is subject to some contention. In this work, we demonstrate how process information can be used in real time to derive the actual spread coefficient for a given workpiece as it is being formed. These measurements and calculations occur in real time, and can be used to regenerate part programs to optimize the forming process, or can be used to adaptively control each incremental deformation of the workpiece.