International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 123 (2017) 260–270

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

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Numerical analysis of die wear characteristics in hot forging of titanium MARK

alloy turbine blade
⁎
Shiyuan Luoa,b, Dahu Zhub,c,d, , Lin Huab,c, Dongsheng Qiana,b, Sijie Yand,e
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
b
Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
c
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
d
Blade Intelligent Manufacturing Division, HUST-Wuxi Research Institute, Wuxi 214174, China
e
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper provides a simple and effective numerical modeling procedure to determine the thermal effects of
Blade forging initial workpiece temperature (Tw) and preheated die temperature (Td) on the die wear behavior in turbine
Die wear blade forging. In particular, a local 3D finite element (FE) approach embedded with the modified Archard wear
Thermal effects model is developed for the numerical modeling and subsequently validated by comparing the simulated average
FE modeling
contact pressure to the analytical one, as well as the experiment from literature. Then, the wear evolution and
distribution of blade forging dies are characterized numerically. Further, the thermal effects of both initial
workpiece and preheated die temperatures on the die wear characteristics are assessed, and the strategies for
decreasing the die wear volume are consequently suggested. The results show that the die wear depth
distribution is uneven and the wear volume is more influenced by the preheated die temperature in hot forging
process of the blade.

1. Introduction
The turbine blade is one of the most important mechanical
components widely employed in aircraft engines since it plays a crucial
role in energy transformation [1]. Hot forging of the blade is a complex
operation characterized by high sliding velocity [2], forging force [3]
and temperature [4], and its product quality [5] and forging produc-
tivity [6] depend highly on forging dies. According to Han and Hua [7],
the factors affecting the service life of hot forging dies are thermal
fatigue, plastic deformation and wear. Among these factors, wear is the
main failure cause which accounts for more than 70% of the total hot
forging die failure [8]. Hence, an accurate prediction of the wear
behavior becomes an ever increasing requirement in the hot forging
process of blades.
Until now, some studies have been performed on the die wear
mechanisms, and the mathematical models considering the parameters
which influenced the wear process were put forward. The first attempt
to relate wear to the mechanical properties of materials was made by
Tonn [9] who developed an empirical equation for abrasive wear. Then,
Archard [10] developed an adhesion theory of wear and proposed the
adhesive wear model based upon the work of Holm [11]. This model
supposes that the wear volume is a function of the normal load and
sliding distance. In addition, a large amount of work [12–14] has been
devoted to using this wear model to investigate the wear characteristics
of dies in metal forming. Furthermore, deriving from the Archard wear
formula, Usui et al. [15] developed a wear model to predict the wear
behavior of cutting tools. Despite of considering the temperature
variations at the tools-workpiece interface, the tool hardness in this
model is neglected. Moreover, it should be pointed out, all of the
aforementioned studies ignored the combined influences of the wear
coefficient, die hardness, relative sliding distance, contact pressure and
thermal effects. To allow a realistic numerical prediction of the die wear
with an improved accuracy, Kang et al. [16] and Behrens [17]
improved the Archard wear equation regarding die hardness as a
function of temperature. Lee and Jou [18] proposed another modified
Archard wear model considering the thermal influences on both die
hardness and wear coefficient. It is worth noting that a large number of
researches have been done on wear estimation in hot forming opera-
tions by adopting this modified wear model [19–21]. In addition,
focusing on blade forging operations, a large majority of studies were
carried out on the part performance of forged blades by using analytics
[22–24], experiment [25–27] and simulation [28–30]. However, to
date, wear characteristics of forging dies in the blade forging process
are still less reported, especially to the part of the blade body which has

⁎
Corresponding author at: Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China.
E-mail address: dhzhu@whut.edu.cn (D. Zhu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2017.02.013
Received 14 October 2016; Received in revised form 10 February 2017; Accepted 17 February 2017
Available online 22 February 2017
0020-7403/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Luo et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 123 (2017) 260–270

a complex shape, small machining allowance and high requirement of

forging precision.
Consequently, this paper is aimed to utilize FE methods to reveal the
die wear behavior in hot forging process of the blade body. For this
purpose, a local 3D coupled thermo-mechanical FE approach embedded
with the modified Archard wear model is developed using the
commercial software Simufact. Forming, and its reliability is verified
analytically and experimentally. Then, the wear evolution and distribu-
tion of blade forging dies are numerically investigated. Finally, a
parametric study is conducted on examining the effects of the initial
workpiece temperature and preheated die temperature on the die wear
behavior. More importantly, the strategies for decreasing the die wear
Fig. 1. Part and forging drawings of a 1220 mm-long turbine blade.
volume are suggested.

of the tip shroud and tenon, the die wear behavior of the blade body
2. Wear modeling
part is considered to have important influences on the service life of
dies and accuracy of the forged blade. In order to investigate the wear
The Archard wear model is widely used to analyze wear behavior of
depth distribution and evolution of this part, Fig. 2(b) presents a local
dies, as shown below [10]:
3D geometric model which can simplify the FE model, improve the
LP simulation efficiency and display the die wear depth distribution and
W=K
H (1) evolution directly.
where W denotes the wear depth, K means the wear coefficient, H is the The Ti-6Al-4V alloy and JIS SKD61 (AISI H13) die steel are used for
die hardness, L the relatively sliding distance and P the contact pressure the workpiece and hot forging dies, respectively. The chemical compo-
between workpiece and die. sitions of them are listed in Table 1 [31,32].
Owing to the fact that K and H are temperature-dependent, the The temperature-dependent Young's modulus E [33], thermal con-
above model considering these two parameters as constants related to ductivity Ka [34] and heat capacity C [34] of the blade material can be
materials is unreasonable and will bring certain errors in hot forging obtained by Eqs. (7)–(9), respectively. Furthermore, the above three
operations. Therefore, Lee and Jou [18] proposed a modified wear material parameters of forging dies are obtained from the work of Hu
model, where K and H are regarded as the functions of temperature. It et al. [35], as shown in Fig. 3.
can be expressed as: E = 104.94 − 0.052079 × T (7)
LP Ka = 0.0131 × T + 6.45 (8)
W (T ) = K (T )
H (T ) (2)
C = 2.36 + 3 × 10−4 × T + 2 × 10−6 × T 2 (9)
where the temperature-dependent wear coefficient K(T) and die hard-
It is of evidence that friction and its formula in the FE simulation
ness H(T) can be obtained by Eqs. (3) and (4), respectively.
greatly influence the accuracy of simulation results. From the work of
K (T ) = [29.29 × ln T − 168.73] × 10−6 (3) Abachi et al. [36], the shear friction model has been proven to be
effective in the wear analysis of hot forging dies. Its formula can be
H (T ) = 9216.4 × T −0.505 (4) expressed as below [37].
During forging processes, the relative sliding velocity, contact τ = mk (10)
pressure and temperature fields are varied with the position and time.
where τ is the frictional stress, k the shear yield stress and m the friction
Hence, Eq. (2) can be further modified as
factor.
Vij Pij Moreover, according to the billet design method described by Luo
ΔWij = Kij (T ) dt j
Hij (T ) (5) et al. [38], the cylindrical billet with a length of 30 mm is adopted and
its diameter can be designed by the following formula [39]:
where Wij is wear depth of ith position of die in jth period dtj, relative
sliding velocity Vij, contact pressure Pij and absolute temperature T can Sa + Se
D=2
be obtained from forging process simulation by FE approach. π (11)
The die wear depth at position ith in one forging operation can be where D is the diameter of preform blade, Sa and Se represent the cross
calculated by: section areas of forged blade and flash, respectively. Se is often given by
j=n Vij Pij [39]
Wi = Σ Kij (T ) dt j
j =1 Hij (T ) (6) Se = Nr × Sa (12)
where n is the total steps of the forging process simulation. In Eq. (12), Nr ranges from 5% to 15% [39], and in this paper, an
average value of 10% is selected to calculate Se. For the given model,
3. 3D FE modeling and validation the value of Sa is known as 5828.62 mm2, hence D is calculated as
5828.62 + 582.862
3.1. 3D FE modeling D=2 = 90.35 mm
π (13)
Fig. 1 presents the part and forging drawings of a 1220 mm-long Table 2 shows the important mechanical and thermal properties of
turbine blade. Considering the convenience of the mold release and Ti-6Al-4V alloy and SKD61 steel, as well as the main process parameters
efficiency of the subsequent machining, machining allowances at the of the blade forging operation.
areas of the tenon, blade body and tip shroud are 5 mm, 1.5 mm and After inputting the above data into commercial software Simufact.
5 mm, respectively. Fig. 2(a) shows a 3D schematic diagram of the Forming, the local 3D coupled thermo-mechanical FE model for the die
blade forging operation. Owing to the fact that the machining allow- wear analysis in hot forging of the blade body is established, as shown
ances at the area of the blade body are much smaller than those at areas in Fig. 4(a). The main features of the FE model are as follows:

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Fig. 2. 3D geometry model of the blade forging operation (a) and local geometric model (b).

Table 1 Table 2
Chemical compositions of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and SKD61 steel (mass fraction, %). Mechanical and thermal properties of Ti-6Al-4V and SKD61 and main process parameters.

Workpiece Al V Fe O H C Ti Parameters Forging die Workpiece

(Ti-6Al-4V) 6.02 3.78 0.08 0.074 0.0082 0.007 Bal.
Forging die Cr Mo Si V Mn C P Fe Material SKD61 Ti−6Al-4V
(SKD61) 5.08 1.22 0.92 0.84 0.4 0.36 0.009 Bal. Young's modulus (MPa) Fig. 3(a) Eq. (7)
Poisson's ratio 0.3 0.342
Density (Kg/mm3) 7.8×10−6 4.43×10−6
Thermal conductivity (N/(s °C)) Fig. 3(b) Eq. (8)
(1) A strain-compensated Arrhenius-type constitutive model is em-
Heat capacity (N/(s mm2 °C)) Fig. 3(c) Eq. (9)
ployed to predict the rheological behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy at Emissivity 0.7 [40] 0.7 [34]
elevated temperature. The relationship between strain and stress Convection coefficient to environment (N/(s mm °C)) 0.02 0.02
refers to [38,42]. Heat transfer coefficient between workpiece and die 5 [34]
(2) Two constraint planes are loaded on both sides of the preformed (N/(s mm °C))
Friction factor 0.35 [41]
billet to limit the metal flow in the length direction, as shown in
Forging stroke of upper die (mm) 59.96
Fig. 4(a). Velocity of upper die (mm/s) 500
(3) The upper and lower dies are treated as rigid bodies, and the Initial temperature of workpiece (°C) 950
workpiece is treated as deformable body. The hexahedral and Initial temperature of dies (°C) 250
tetrahedral finite element meshes are used for the workpiece and Environment temperature (°C) 25

dies, respectively. Moreover, the subgridding technique is em-

ployed to increase the accuracy of the simulation results, as shown
in Fig. 4(b). The mesh details of the preformed billet and dies are
presented in Fig. 4(c) and (d), respectively.

Fig. 3. The material properties of SKD61 forging die with temperature-dependent Young's modulus (a), thermal conductivity (b) and heat capacity (c).

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Fig. 4. The local 3D FE model with two constraint planes (a), element types of the workpiece and forging dies (b) and mesh details of the workpiece (c) and forging dies (d).

Fig. 5. Cross section of the dies (a), stresses acting on the element in Zone I (b) and FE simulation and analytical results comparison of the average contact pressure in the flash land (c).

3.2. Model validation metal mainly travels along the width direction of the blade, and only a
tiny portion of metal flows in the length direction. Hence, the
3.2.1. Verification by theoretical analysis deformation of the blade can be treated as plane strain problem and
From the investigation of Luo et al. [2], it can be known that the analyzed by slab method [23]. Fig. 5(a) and (b) show the cross section

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Fig. 6. A local forging method with the equipment (a), forging dies (b) and the forged blade (c) [44].

Fig. 7. Wear depth distribution of the upper die with different percentages of forging strokes.

of dies and stresses in the flash land, respectively. Using the symbols in between parallel dies, the yield equation can be simplified as [24]:
Fig. 5(b), static equilibrium in the x-axis direction can be given as [24]:
σy − σx = 2k (16)
σx lh − (σx + dσx ) lh − 2τl dx = 0 (14)
According to Eqs. (15) and (16), by derivation, it can be obtained:
Substituting Eq. (10) into Eq. (14) and rearranging, the following
equation is obtained 2mk
σy = − x + Ce
2mk h (17)
dσx = − dx
h (15)
Moreover, with the boundary condition σy=σye at x=xe, the
Since the metal deformation is treated as plane strain upset forging integral constant Ce is calculated as

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Fig. 8. Effective plastic strain distribution of the blade with different percentages of forging strokes.

Fig. 9. Wear depth distribution of the lower die with different percentages of forging strokes.

2mk solution can be derived as follow:

Ce = σye + xe
h (18)
2mk
σy = (xe − x ) + σye
According to Eqs. (17) and (18), an expression of the general h (19)

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Fig. 10. Die wear depth distributions of the tenon (a) and tip shroud (b) parts.

Then, the average contact pressure in flash land zone of the blade 3.2.2. Verification by experiment
forging die can be expressed as: According to the experimental work of Bruschi et al. [44], the local
xe
forging method is employed to investigate phase distributions of the Ti-
1 mkxe
P=
xe
∫0 σ y dx =
h
+ σye
(20)
6Al-4V forged blade on a 2300 kN screw press, as shown in Fig. 6. Then,
the experimental procedure is numerically modeled and the comparison
Furthermore, according to the previous studies [24,43], the follow- between the experimental and numerical results shows a good agree-
ing equation can be obtained ment. Thus, the local forging method can well represent the mechanical
behavior of blade forging operation, and the 3D FE model proposed in
1 the present work can model the die wear behavior well.
k= σ
3 (21)
4. Results and discussion
2
σye = σ
3 (22) 4.1. Die wear evolution and distribution
Finally, substituting Eqs. (21) and (22) into Eq. (14), the equation
Fig. 7 shows the predicted wear depth distribution of the upper die
can be rewritten as:
with different percentages of forging strokes. It is observed that the
1 ⎛ mxe ⎞ worn region shows a positive correlation with the forging strokes,
P= σ⎜ + 2⎟ which is mainly contributed to the enlargement of the contact area
3 ⎝ h ⎠ (23)
between the workpiece and die surface. Moreover, as shown in
Fig. 5(c) compares the simulated average contact pressure with the Fig. 7(d), the wear depth distribution is uneven and significant at the
analytical result under the same forging parameters, showing a good end of the forging operation. There are two approximately symmetrical
agreement with the relative error of 2.54%. Thus, the local 3D FE model maximum worn regions located on both sides of the middle die cavity
of the blade forging operation is proved to be effective to reveal the die surface where the minimum wear occurs. This is mainly because the
wear characteristics. blade deformation is inhomogeneous (Fig. 8), thereby resulting in non-

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Fig. 11. Locations of the measured points (a), wear depth values of the measured points after the forging operation (b) and maximum wear depth evolutions of the dies during the forging
process (c).

Fig. 12. 3D surface plot of the wear depth showing the effect of initial workpiece temperature Tw (a) and the contour plot with some fundamental evolution laws of the wear depth (b).

uniform distribution of the relative sliding velocity at the die-workpiece
interface. The higher metal flow resistance in hard deformation zone
decreases the sliding velocity which leads to a lower value of wear
depth on the middle of the cavity surface. This view can be supported
by the recent investigation of Gronostajski et al. [45] which also found
the die wear depth is low at the zone where the workpiece deformation
is difficult in the gear wheel forging process. Furthermore, as shown in
Fig. 8, the blade forming feature is in quite agreement with the
analytical work conducted by Aksenov et al. [22] who employed the
slip-line field theory to analyze the plastically deformation area of the
blade.
Fig. 9 shows the predicted wear depth distribution of the lower die

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Fig. 13. 3D surface plot of the wear depth showing the effect of preheated die temperature Td (a) and the contour plot with some fundamental evolution laws of the wear depth (b).
Fig. 14. Overall evaluation of thermal effects on maximum value of die wear depth.
with different percentages of forging strokes. Like the upper die, the
wear depth distribution is inhomogeneous and the minimum worn
region is located on the same place of the cavity surface. However,
different from Fig. 7(d), only one maximum worn region is found on the
cavity surface of the lower die after the forging operation, as shown in
Fig. 9(d). This phenomenon can be also related to the non-uniform
plastic deformation of the blade. From the partial forged blade
contacted with the lower die (Fig. 8(e)), it can be found that the
deformation in the region near blade trailing edge is more intensive
than the region near blade leading edge. This deformation feature
brings a bigger sliding velocity distribution near blade trailing edge,
further resulting in a more severe worn zone there.
In addition, based on the same simulation approach and forging
conditions, the die wear depth distributions of the tenon and tip shroud
parts after the forging operation are shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b),
respectively. Like the blade body part, it can be found in Fig. 10 that the
die wear depth distributions of these two parts are also uneven.
Moreover, the maximum wear depth value of the tenon and tip shroud
parts (18.7e-5 mm) is 1.5 times greater than that of the blade body part
(12.5e-5 mm). However, as mentioned above, machining allowances of
the former are over 3 times larger than the latter. Hence, through
comprehensive considerations of the wear depth volume, machining
allowances and the difficulty in the subsequent machining, the die wear
behavior of the blade body part is confirmed to have critical influences
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 123 (2017) 260–270
on the service life of blade forging dies and accuracy of the forged
blade.
To detailedly reveal the wear evolution and distribution mechan-
isms of hot forging dies at the blade body part during the blade forging
process, fifty measured points are picked along the cavity surface of the
upper and lower dies, respectively, as shown in Fig. 11(a). And then,
the wear depth values of measured points after the forging operation
are presented in Fig. 11(b). The wear volume of upper die is found to be
generally greater than that of lower die and the peak values of wear
depth (about 12e-5 mm) are located at points 12 and 34, respectively.
Moreover, between these two points, the values of wear depth gradually
decrease from the peak values at both ends to the valley value (0.42e-
5 mm) at point 25. This phenomenon can be explained by the same
reason as mentioned above. From points 12 to 1 and points 34 to 50, the
wear depth values also show decreasing trends which can be attributed
to the decrement of the contact time and pressure. This view is
supported by Akgerman et al. [23] who found that in the blade forging
operation, the forging stresses increase sharply from the flash lands at
both ends to the neutral surface near the middle of dies by using the
slab method. Furthermore, Fig. 11(c) shows the maximum wear depth
evolutions of dies during the forging process. It can be found that a
steep increase in maximum wear depth is generated when the forging
process enters the final stage. This finding is mainly caused by a sharp
increment of the forging load at final forging stage which has been
reported by Luo et al. [2].
4.2. Effect of the initial workpiece temperature and preheated die
temperature
4.2.1. Simulation conditions
As described above, the upper and lower dies show the similar wear
variation laws. The wear volume of the former, however, is slightly
greater than the latter. Hence, the upper die is chosen as a representa-
tive of the analytical object to investigate the effects of initial workpiece
temperature Tw and preheated die temperature Td on the die wear
behavior. The simulation conditions characterized by a range of values
of Tw={800, 830, 860, 890, 920, 950, 980} [°C] and Td={100, 150,
200, 250, 300, 350, 400} [°C] are selected, and the other parameters
remain unchanged as listed in Table 2.
4.2.2. Effect of the initial workpiece temperature
Fig. 12(a) shows the wear depth variations of measured points
versus the initial workpiece temperature Tw in 3D surface form. It can
S. Luo et al.
Fig. 15. Wear depth distributions of whole upper (a) and lower (b) dies.
be seen that the wear depth decreases as increasing the Tw. Moreover,
Fig. 12(b) shows a contour plot with some fundamental evolution laws
of the die wear depth. It can be found that the maximum wear depth
(about 27e-5 mm) at Tw=815 °C is approximately 3 times larger than
that at Tw=965 °C. This is mainly because enhancing the Tw sharply
reduces the flow stress of Ti-6Al-4V, which leads to the decrement of
the contact pressure between the workpiece and dies. Eq. (6) can well
explain this finding that the wear depth value is proportional to the
pressure and reduced with the decrement of the die surface pressure.
Furthermore, the evolution laws of measured points 12, 25 and 34 are
compared as shown in Fig. 12(b). It is clearly evident that the wear
depth values at measured points 12 and 34 increase almost linearly
with decreasing the Tw. However, the value remains nearly unchanged
at measured point 25. The reason for this is that the metal flow in hard
deformation zone is difficult to be improved by enhancing the Tw
during the blade forging operation. Therefore, the relative sliding
velocity becomes the decisive factor to influence the die wear depth
in this zone. This explanation is supported by Semiatin and Lahoti [46]
who carefully investigated the effect of initial workpiece temperature
on the uniformity characteristics of titanium alloy forgings. Therefore,
through the above analysis, the value of the maximum wear depth can
be decreased by the approach of enhancing the Tw. In contrast, the
value reduction of the minimum wear depth is independent of the Tw in
the blade forging process.
4.2.3. Effect of the preheated die temperature
Fig. 13(a) shows the wear depth variations of measured points
versus the preheated die temperature Td in 3D surface form. Unlike the
Tw, the Td shows an opposite influence on the wear depth. From
Fig. 13(b), it can be seen that there is an increase of nearly 250% in the
maximum value of the wear depth when Td rises from 125 °C to 375 °C.
This is mainly attributed to the changes of the wear coefficient and die
hardness caused by the Td variation. As shown in Eqs. (3) and (4), the
temperature-dependent wear coefficient K(T) and die hardness H(T) are
in direct and in inverse proportional to the die temperature, respec-
tively. And from Eq. (6), it can be found that either increasing the wear
coefficient or decreasing the die hardness will lead to the value
increment of the wear depth. Therefore, the wear becomes more severe
with increasing the Td. Moreover, as rising the preheated die tempera-
ture, a similar variation trend of the maximum wear depth has also
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 123 (2017) 260–270
been found in the aluminum alloy 7075 tube extrusion process reported
by Zhang et al. [20].
4.2.4. Overall evaluation of thermal effects
Fig. 14 shows the overall evaluation of thermal effects on the
maximum value of die wear depth. In this chart, the initial workpiece
temperature Tw and preheated die temperature Td have been equally
weighted, and the points on the overlapping area constituted by the two
areas represent the optimal combination of process parameters. A total
of eight points, including three from Tw and five from Td, are observed
in Fig. 14, indicating that the optimal combination of the above two
parameters to decrease the die wear volume is {Tw=920–980 °C,
Td=100–300 °C}. Moreover, compared with about a 200% increase
in the maximum value of the wear depth by decreasing Tw from 980 °C
to 800 °C, a nearly 600% increase is obtained by increasing Td from
100 °C to 400 °C. Therefore, it can be deduced that the die wear depth is
more significantly influenced by the Td than the Tw.
Finally, after being convinced by the local 3D FE approach that the
determined combination of thermal parameters serves to reduce the die
wear volume, an entire 3D FE simulation under the thermal parameters
{Tw=950 °C, Td=200 °C} is conducted. Fig. 15(a) and (b) show the
wear depth distributions of the whole upper and lower dies, respec-
tively. Compared with the simulated results shown in Figs. 7, 9, 10 and
15, the similarity of die wear depth distributions between the local and
entire 3D FE simulated results is clearly apparent. Moreover, owing to
the inhomogeneous deformation of the blade, the wear depth distribu-
tions of whole blade forging dies are extremely non-uniform. Hence, in
order to improve the uniformity of the die wear depth, the shape design
and optimization of the preformed billet will be carried out in the future
work.
5. Conclusions
This paper utilizes FE methods to reveal die wear characteristics in a
complicated hot forging process of the Ti-6Al-4V turbine blade body.
Furthermore, the influence of initial workpiece temperature and
preheated die temperature on the die wear evolution and distribution
is investigated detailedly. Following conclusions are achieved:
(1) The wear behavior of the upper and lower dies is evolved from the
S. Luo et al.
starting contact surface to the both sides, and the wear distributions
are found to be extremely non-uniform. Unlike the lower die where
only one peak wear value appears, two peak wear values are
observed on both sides of the middle surface of the upper die cavity
where the valley wear value exists. Moreover, the non-uniform
distribution of the relative sliding velocity at the die-workpiece
interface causing by the inhomogeneous plastic deformation of the
workpiece results in the slightly greater wear volume of the upper
die than the lower die.
(2) The initial workpiece temperature Tw is found to be negatively
correlated with the die wear depth, while the preheated die
temperature Td shows the positive correlation. For the former,
the higher Tw reduces the flow stress sharply, leading to the
decrease of the contact pressure at workpiece–dies interface. For
the latter, the lower Td changes the wear coefficient K(T) and die
hardness H(T), greatly contributing to the wear decrease of the
SKD61 forging die and accuracy improvement of the Ti-6Al-4V
forged blade.
(3) The die wear depth is more significantly influenced by the Td than
the Tw, and the maximum wear depth value by the lower Td is
found to be nearly half of the value by the higher Tw. The
combination of higher Tw and lower Td can be taken as a means
to reduce the die wear depth. In addition, a reasonable combination
of process parameters {Tw=920–980 °C, Td=100–300 °C} are
determined to improve die service life.
(4) The simulated die wear results which clarify the relationship with
the metal flow of the workpiece and the thermal effects can provide
a significant basis for the shape design and optimization of the
preformed billet and forging dies, further enhance the working life
of dies in hot forging of turbine blades.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial
support from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos.
51675394, 51375196), the State Key Laboratory of Digital
Manufacturing Equipment and Technology (No. DMETKF2016003),
and the Key R & D Program of Jiangsu Province (No. BE2015005).
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