METAL FORMING & METAL CUTTING TECHNOLOGIES

MSc Materials Engineering

Part 4 – Forging

1
Introduction

Forging denotes a family of bulk metal forming processes by which plastic deformation of
the workpiece is carried out by compressive forces applied by drop hammers, hydraulic,
mechanical or friction presses

Grand View Research

2
Forge, Magazine MediTeg, UTM
Introduction

Application of forgings parts in automotive, trucks and airplanes

BMW AG Daimler Benz AG

Airbus Industrie Gelenkwellenbau Gmbh

Introduction

4
Classification of forging processes

Hot Forging
Open-Die Forging

Warm Forging

Closed-Die Forging
Cold Forging

5
Open die forging
Basic open-die forging processes and achievable cross-section changes

Cogging Upsetting Spreading

(material displacement) (material concentration) (material displacement)
reduce cross section & increase length gather in a localized area reduce cross section & increase width

𝐴0 Τ𝐴1 < 4 − 5 𝐴1 Τ𝐴0 < 4 − 5 𝐴0 Τ𝐴1 < 4 − 5

Open die forging

Material flow is only partially constrained

A great variety of shapes can be produced with relatively simple dies, although often through
a complex sequence of deformation steps

• Simple tools, whose geometries do not depend on the product geometry

• Wide range of shapes, geometries and weights
• Suitability for small batch production

• Only applicable to simple geometries

• Not suitable to produce components with close tolerances
• Requires subsequent operations of machining and/or closed-die forging
• Low production rate
• May require skilled workers with some degree of expertise
Closed-die forging

Allows producing more complex shapes with greater accuracy than open die forging
Specially purpose dies are used with the negative shape of the component to be produced

• Proper control of material flow to obtain the best possible dimensional and shape accuracy
• Wide range of shapes, geometries and weights
• Suitability for large batch production

• Tool geometries depend on the product geometry 8

• May require sucessive intermediate stages and final machining
Closed-die forging

Impression-die forging Precision forging

(excess raw material is allowed to escape into (no excess raw material is allowed because the
the flash because the die is not fully closed) die is fully closed and there is no flash)

Kalpakjian

Impression-die forging is usually carried Precision forging is utilised in net-shape and

out at elevated temperatures with extra near net-shape forming processes in which a
material (flash – 5% to 30% total volume) billet with carefully controlled volume is
removed in secondary operations by deformed (hot, warm or cold) to fill a die cavity
piercing, trimming and/or machining without any loss of material (flashless forming)

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 Closed-die forging - Impression-die forging

Upper die block

Dowel
Die insert Anvil bolster
Die notch

Blocker Blocker impression

Billet
(preform) Finish impression

Dowel slot
Flash Die wing
Kalpakjian
Anvil bolster key
Die insert

Die shank
Lower die block Die key

Lower die block

Equipment Tool speed Contact pressure time

High Velocity Drop Hammer 10 – 15 m/s 0.5 – 5 ms

Drop Hammer 3 - 6 m/s 1 – 10 ms

Screw Press 0.5 – 1.5 m/s 20 – 150 ms

Mechanical Press 0.05 – 1.5 m/s 50 – 150 ms

Hydraulic Press 0.01 – 1 m/s 250 – 500 ms 10

Lasco Umformtechnik, 2021
Closed-die forging - Impression-die forging

Força
Force matrizes fechadas
Closed dies

Complete
enchimento filling das
completo of the dies
matrizes

Beginning of flash formation

início da formação de rebarba

energia de forjamento
Forging energy

Deslocamento
Displacement

The force vs. displacement evolution can be calculated by means of

analytical or numerical methods
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Closed-die forging – Precision forging

Lange et al., 2008

Tekkaya

Tool elements
Active Passive Structural 12
Closed-die forging – Precision forging
Conventional
multi-stage operations that
incorporate forging, extrusion and
upsetting to produce net-shape or
near net-shape parts
Heading Coining
upsetting performed on the end of a upsetting of thin parts with low
rod or wire to increase the cross- height reductions but high forming
section loads
multi-stage is needed to avoid
buckling if the unsupported length-
to-diameter ratio
is too high
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Closed-die forging – Precision forging

Conventional Heading Coining

Tekkaya

Embossing
creates raised surfaces or letters
in thin sheets without thickness
variation
Upsettin Cone Guide Conical
g ratio angle length portion
h0/d0 2a (deg.) a (mm) c (mm)
not a closed-die forging process
2.5 15 0.6 d0 1.37 d0
3.3 15 1.0 d0 1.56 d0
3.9 15 1.4 d0 1.66 d0
4.3 20 1.7 d0 1.56 d0 14
4.5 25 1.9 d0 1.45 d0
Hot, warm and cold forging

Hot Forging Cold Forging

Production of discrete parts Production of discrete parts

Greater technical and economical importance Processes covered: extrusion forging,
Low stresses, no/low work-hardening, upsetting, coining
homogenized grain structure High stresses, strain hardening, high die loads
High formability Additional raw material preparation costs by
Medium to low accuracy annealing, phosphating and soaping
Scale formation Limited formability
Forging temperatures: Good mechanical properties
◼ Carbon steel & alloy steels: 850oC-1150oC Near-net shape or net shape
◼ Stainless steel: 1100oC-1250oC High surface quality
◼ Aluminum alloys: 400oC-550oC Lower production costs in large batch sizes
◼ Copper alloys: 600oC-900oC

phosphating and soaping

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Hot, warm and cold forging

Warm forging combines the advantages of cold and hot forging

Recommended temperatures for steels are between 450ºC-
850ºC, the lower and upper limits are conditioned by the
increase of force and decrease of ductility (lower temperatures)
and oxidation (higher temperatures)
Warm forging of steels does not require 'phosphating and
soaping' operations and may eliminate the need of heat-
treatments before and after forging

Hot Warm Cold

Weight of the components (kg) 0.05-1500 0.001-50 0.001-30
IT class IT 13-16 IT 11-14 IT 8-11
Roughness (R) > 50-100 μm >30 μm >10 μm
Effective stress (relative ) 20 to 30% 30 to 50% 100%
Maximum effective strain <6 <4 < 1.6
Costs (relative) 113% 100% 147%
Secondary operations High Low Very low
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 Hot, warm and cold forging

Warm Forging Cold Forging

Front axis tripod joint Shafts for gearboxes and for rotors of 17
automotive electric motors
Hot, warm and cold forging
Materials for cold forging

Material Type Identification

(AISI) 1010, 1015, 1020, 1035, 1045
3115
Carbon and alloy steels 4130, 4140
5115, 5140
8620
(AISI) Ferrite - 410, 430, 431
Stainless steels
Austenitic - 302, 304, 316, 321
(Aluminum Association) 1050,
1070,1100,1285
2017, 2024
Aluminium alloys 3003
5052, 5152
6053, 6063, 6066
7075
Great variety with particular
emphasis on copper C10000 series
Copper alloys
and the brasses C20000 and C30000
series.

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Tool materials
The workpiece material to be formed, the operating temperature, the type of machine-tool to
be used and the predicted distribution of strains and stresses in the active tool elements
need to be known to select the appropriate tool materials

Strength and hardness

Temperature resistance Hardening and

tempering

Toughness and fatigue resistance

Surface treatments
and coatings
Wear resistance

Machinability
𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 20 𝑚𝑖𝑛. 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 19
𝑀𝑖 = × 100%
𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 20 𝑚𝑖𝑛. 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒
Tool materials

Active tool elements, are subjected to high normal pressures and require high compressive
strength. They are made from hot working tool steels, cold working tool steels, high speed
steels, powder metallurgical tool steels or cemented carbides
Cemented carbides are applied in the case of very high pressures and/or large quantity
production requiring large wear resistance, but they are more expensive and delivery time is
often longer since the tools normally have to be custom made except

Material
Type of material
(AISI)
H11 to H16 Steel with chromium to hot forging
H20 to H26 Steels with tungsten to hot forging
O1, O2, O6, O7 Steels for cold forging oil tempering
W1-W7 Steels for cold forging water tempering
A2, A4, A5-A7 Steels for cold forging air tempering
D1-D7 Steels for cold forging with high percentage of carbon and chromium
M1-M7 High-speed steel with molybdenum
6G, 6F, 6H Low alloy tool steel (with nickel, molybdenum and vanadium)

Good mechanical properties In general, ductility is sacrificed in

at elevated temperatures tool steels for cold-forging
Tool materials
Interface pressures must be kept low enough (a safe fraction of the yield strength of the
active tool elements) not to cause any permanent deformation
The most used materials are tool steels which contain as main alloying elements chromium,
tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium
Hardness Ultimate Tensile
Tool steels are subjected to heat treatment (HRC) Strenght (MPa)
30 960
40 1250
50 1700
Temperature

60 2400
Stress-Relief
Annealing Pre-heating Austenitizing Quenching Tempering
Finish-machining
Pre-machining

Hardening Temperature

3rd Pre-heating Stage

1 min/mm (900ºC)

Hot bath Air/Oil

600-650ºC 500-600ºC
1st Tempering 2nd Tempering

2nd Pre-heating Stage 1h/20 mm 1h/20 mm

1/2 min/mm (650ºC)
Slow
Furnace 1st Pre-heating Stage Air Air
Cooling 1/2 min/mm (400ºC)
Equalizing
Temperature 1h/100 mm
Time
Tool materials

Preheating and adequate temperature control of the punches/dies during production allows
maximizing life and performance of the forging tools
Cold punches/dies extract more heat from the forged part and lead to an increase of the forging
pressures and loads. Cold punches/dies with temperatures below the transition temperature
may even present a brittle behaviour and are therefore very susceptible to cracking
Hot punches/dies can loose hardness and wear resistance due to localized softening

Critical temperatures for heating and operation:

• Critical tempering temperature, in the case of tool steels for hot forging varies between
425ºC and 600ºC
• Transformation temperature of ferrite-austenite (723ºC)

DIN No. Standards AISI Pre-heating temperature (ºC)

1.2714 X55NiCrMoV7 L6 65 - 95
1.2343 X38CrMoV51 H11 120
1.2344 X40CrMoV5-1 H13 120
1.2367 X40CrMoV5-3 - 150
Tool failure

Major types of wear and damage that are found in hot forging dies:
• Wear
• Mechanical fatigue
• Plastic deformation
• Thermal fatigue
Tool design

Define the forging stages

Design of die land and flash gutter
Design of the die cavity
◼ Design for material flow and die layout
◼ Design for dimensional accuracy
◼ Design for ease of machining

Ideal work method

1. Determination of an equivalent geometry (equivalent cylindrical shape)

𝑉
ℎ𝑚 =
𝐴𝑝
Tool design
2. Determination of the average values ​of strain and strain rate

ℎ0 𝑣
𝜀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 = ln 𝜀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
ሶ =
ℎ𝑚 ℎ𝑚

3. Determination of the effective stress

𝜎lj = 𝑓(𝜀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 , 𝜀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
ሶ )

Cold forging Warm forging Hot forging

Ludwik-Hollomon Brown

𝜎 = 𝐾𝜀 𝑛 𝜎 = 𝜎𝑒 + 𝐾𝜀 𝑛 𝜎 = 𝐷𝜀 𝑛 𝜀ሶ 𝑚 𝜎 1/𝑚 𝑄
𝜀ሶ = 𝐴 𝑝 exp − = 𝐵𝜎 1/𝑚
𝐷 𝑅𝑇
Swift

𝜎 = 𝐾(𝜀0 + 𝜀)𝑛
𝜎 = 𝐶 𝜀ሶ 𝑚
Voce (saturation stress)
Johnson - Cook
𝜎 = 𝐴 − 𝐵 ⋅ exp −𝐶𝜀 𝑚 𝑝
𝑛
𝜀ሶ 𝑇 − 𝑇0
𝜎 = 𝐴 − (𝐴 − 𝜎𝑦 ) ⋅ exp −𝐶𝜀 𝜎 = 𝜎𝑒 + 𝐾𝜀 1 + 𝑙𝑛 1−
𝜀0ሶ 𝑇𝑚 − 𝑇0
 Tool design
The different forging regimes are defined as a function of the melting temperature Tm

Working Temperature
Cold < 0.3 Tm
Warm 0.3 a 0.5 Tm
Hot > 0.6 Tm

Cold forging Hot forging

Ludwik-Hollomon Brown

𝜎 = 𝐾𝜀 𝑛 𝜎 = 𝜎𝑒 + 𝐾𝜀 𝑛 𝜎 = 𝐶 𝜀ሶ 𝑚

Material K (MPa) n σ0.2 (MPa) Material Temperature (ºC) C (MPa) m

Carbon steel (0.08%) 600 0.25 180 Aluminium
200 a 500 82 a 14 0.07 a 0.23
alloy
Carbon steel (0.15%) 620 0.18 300
Ti-6Al-4V 840 a 930 82 - 14 0.7 – 0.9
Carbon steel (0.45%) 950 0.12 410
Brass (70% Cu, 30% Zn) 500 0.41 100
Aluminium (99%) 140 0.25 35
Lead alloy UNS L52905 71 0.09 -
Tool design

4. Determination of the average pressure applied by the tool

𝑝 = 𝜎𝑄
lj 𝑝

5. Determination of the maximum force

𝐹 = 𝜎𝑄
lj 𝑝 𝐴𝑝

6. Determination of the energy

𝑊 = 𝜎𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑓 𝜀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑉 ⋅ 𝑄𝑒

Geometric shape Qp Qe

Simple, slightly confined shape 1.5-2.5 1.2-1.5

Simple, confined shape with small flash 3-5 2-2.5

Simple, confined shape with flash 5-8 3

Complex shape, involving thin webs and tall ribs, with flash 8-12 4
Tool design

Material fibers (grain flow)

Casting Machining Forging

Advantages of Forging Process Advantages of Forging Products

High material utilization Improved grain structure

High production rates Higher fatigue strength & ductility
High process stability Better surface quality than in casting
High recyclability of products Beneficial grain flow (fibers)

The beneficial grain flow in forged parts leads to a longer fatigue life & higher ductility
than machined or casted parts
Self-studying
a) Solve the proposed exercises

b) Prepare and run finite element models for the compression of a cylinder made from AISI 316
stainless steel under cold, warm (600ºC) and hot (1200ºC) conditions without and with friction

c) Analyse the force vs. displacement evolutions, the distribution of effective stress, the
distribution of effective strain and the pressure applied on the upper and lower dies

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