SLOVENIAN TOOL AND DIE

DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

SIMULTANEOUS COLD AND HOT FORGING IN A SINGLE FORMING

STEP – PRINCIPLE, POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
K. Kayatürk b, A. Kurt b, U. Weidiga, K. Steinhoff a, A. E. Tekkaya b
a
Research & Development / QM, SM AG, Altdorf, Switzerland
b
Dep. of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

The production of workpieces with flanges by hot forging is suffering from the poor surface quality and accuracy, whereas the
production by cold forging is limited by local excessive work hardening and corresponding low deformability. The proposed new
production approach is based on the idea is to increase the deformability with the help of dynamic recrystallization only in these
areas where it is needed. During the positioning an induction coil integrated into a gripping device of an industrial robot heats
only a small part of the workpiece to forging temperature. The heated area bulges during the following deformation and simul-
taneously the ends of the part are formed cold. The main process parameters are heating zone length, temperature, total length,
friction and relative position of the heated zone. Failure can occur by buckling, incomplete filling of the die and folding defects.
The process offers the possibility to locally influence the mechanical properties with defined heat treatments and to produce
hollow workpieces as well as workpieces with several flanges.

Keywords: Simultaneous Hot and Cold Forging, Cold Forging, Hot Forging, Forward Extrusion, Finite Element Analysis

1. Introduction this heating and positioning the deformation process begins.

A second industrial robot with another modified gripping de-
The benefits of cold deformation processes are gener- vice removes the workpiece afterwards. During this opera-
ally lost when it comes to the production of workpieces tion a controlled cooling of the heated area can be realised by
with flanges. Poor deformability due to excessive work integrating water cooling jets into the gripper of the robot to
hardening limits the possible flange diameters. Low strains have desired mechanical properties for the flange.
at one deformation step are the reason for lots of interme-
diate annealing operations or the choice of a warm defor- Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of cold and warm
mation process with its known disadvantages. forging.
Cold Forging Hot Forging
2. New process idea
surface quality high deformability
Advantages

For reducing the amount of deformation steps a combi- high tolerances high strains
nation of cold and hot forming has been proposed by [1]. near net shape few deformation steps
Their suggestion was to start with a hot forging process with Hardening low forces
high strains followed by cold forging for the final deforma-
material saving
tion steps. New processing concepts describe how to inte-
low
grate a partial heating for the following upsetting into a deformability
poor surface
Disadvantages

processing line [2]. But the cold parts of the workpiece re- a lot of
main undeformed. In contrast to this the new process, de- deformation scaling
scribed in the following, combines both forging types (cold steps
high forming
and hot forging) in a way that they occur simultaneously in low tolerances
forces
one deformation step [3]. It benefits from the advantages of
low strains machining
cold and hot forging whilst it reduces the disadvantages to a
minimum (Table. 1). This kind of deformation process can
be realised in an industrial process in a way as indicated in 3. Process parameters
Fig. 1. An industrial robot is equipped with an induction coil
integrated in the gripping device. During the positioning of The main process parameters were identified and their
the workpiece the heating of desired area takes place. After influences investigated with several finite element

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 SIMULTANEOUS COLD AND HOT FORGING IN A SINGLE FORMING
STEP – PRINCIPLE, POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
K. Kayatürk, A. Kurt, U. Weidig, K. Steinhoff, A. E. Tekkaya

simulations. Table. 2 shows an overview over these pa- die surface takes place. Depending on the position the
rameters and their contribution to the forming process. first contact between bulge and die surface occurs on both
sides at the same time or only one-sided. A one-sided
Table 2. Overview and influence of main process parameters. contact can lead to a bending of the bulge and defects are
Parameter influence possible.
temperature decrease of flow stress, favouring The role of the friction in this combined process has
radial material flow to be explained thoroughly. The process consists of a par-
friction hinders material flow, favours free tial free forming and a forming, that depends on the die.
forming of bulge The free forming is the bulging of the heated area. With
heating zone length determines the material volume increasing friction the free bulging is favoured with the
which flows in radial direction result of a larger bulge volume. As a result the flange
relative position of controls the contact of bulged area
diameter increases (Fig. 2).
heating zone and tool
total specimen length impelling buckling
240
positioning of workpiece with
integrated inductive heating m=0.2 (lhz=90 mm)
230

flange diameter, mm
increasing friction

220 m=0.1 (lhz=90 mm)

210 increasing
heating zone length

m=0 (lhz=90 mm)

200
m=0 (lhz=70 mm)
190
press force: max. 3600 t
180
600 700 800 900 1000
temperature, °C

Fig. 2. Temperature vs. Flange Diameter.

deformation controlled cooling On the other hand the flange diameter can also de-
crease with increasing friction. The reason for this in-
consistent influence is the change of the forming type
of the heated area from free forming to a forming de-
pending on a die. As long as there is no contact be-
tween bulge and tool increasing friction favours the
bulging process and raises the material volume of the
flange. After the first contact between bulge and tool
the friction impedes the radial material flow. As a re-
sult the final flange diameter slightly decreases with
increasing friction.

Fig. 1. Industrial realisation of simultaneous cold and
hot forging.
The underlying criterion for these parameter investi-
gations was to obtain a maximum flange diameter. The
temperature reduces the flow stress and with increasing
temperature the bulging of the heated area is enhanced.
The heating zone length determines the material volume
that bulges and forms the flange. Both parameters influ-
ences the bulge volume and finally the flange volume. In
a different way acts the relative position of the heating
zone. It controls the way the contact between bulge and
4. Process optimization
Fig. 3 shows the two types of investigated
workpieces: solid and hollow shafts. To achieve the
maximum flange diameter, the parameters rod length,
heating zone length and position of heating zone were
optimised. The heated material volume is directly con-
nected to the volume of the final flange (Fig. 4). There
is a linear trendline, but the flange volume exceeds the
heated zone volume. Due to heat conduction more ma-
terial volume exhibit lower flow stresses. This addition-
ally heated material and also parts of cold material flows
into the flange.

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SIMULTANEOUS COLD AND HOT FORGING IN A SINGLE FORMING
STEP – PRINCIPLE, POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
K. Kayatürk, A. Kurt, U. Weidig, K. Steinhoff, A. E. Tekkaya

punch is reached. The design of the initial geometry in

combination with a defined heating zone length is of im-
portance for the moment of the contact between bulge
and die. If the contact occurs too early the cold forming
process will not be completed and as a result the die will
not be filled. The relative position of the heating zone
controls the first contact between bulge and die in a dif-
ferent way. If the contact occurs mainly on one side a
bending of the bulge is observed during the following
deformation. After the contact with the other side of the
die material foldings are possible. These foldings can not
be removed in the course of the deformation. Conse-
quently they remain in the flange (Fig. 6).
a) Solid Parts b) Hollow Parts Another failure of this process can occur at the very
Fig. 3. Different workpiece geometries. beginning of the process. Elastic and plastic buckling due
to a too short supported length or inconvenient aspect
300 ratios is well known in free forming. If the rod is only
250 partially heated along its length an additional influence
flange volume, 10³ mm³

to this problem can be observed. Fig. 7 shows an exam-

200
ple of the simulation results. For these results the cross-
150 section of the rod was fully heated. With identical ratio
trendline: of heating zone length to diameter the deflection of the
100 y = 1.1423 * x
R² = 0.9255 rod is lower if the rod is fully heated.
50 Additional simulation revealed the enhanced buckling
0
by an insufficient heating of the desired zone. This means
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
the cross-section of the rod is heated to forming tempera-
heated zone volume, 10³ mm³
ture only in the outer areas. With only a partially heated
Fig. 4. Linear dependency between final volume and ini- cross-section the percentage of buckling is about twice
tial heated zone volume. as high as with a fully heated cross-section.

5. Failure modes 1200

final variant 1
1000
TOL = 0.1 (rel. force)
The investigation of the process by numerical simula- m = 0.1
punch force, tons

tion revealed several process conditions which lead to a 800 element size: 7.1 mm

failure of the forming process (Tab. 3). 600

400
Table 3. Conditions and consequences of failure modes.
200
condition
result
incomplete forming of flange 0
insufficient punch load 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
incomplete filling of the die punch displacement, mm
incorrect relative position folding defects in the flange
of heating zone
Fig. 5. Punch displacement versus punch force.
excessive necking of folding defects in the flange
bulge 6. Discussion
incorrect length of free buckling before bulging,
forming zone failure of forming process The failure modes reveal the central role of the bulge.
insufficient heating buckling before bulging It is decisive for the forming process to control the for-
mation of the bulge. Its position relatively to the die has
Near the end of the forming process, after the contact to be optimized in the way, that the contact between bulge
between bulge and die, the increasing diameter in the and die occurs symmetrically. Under this condition no
flange zone lead to a rapid increase of the punch force bending of the bulge is possible and the necking areas of
(Fig. 5). If the maximum force of the press is too low the the bulge are removed during the radial flow (Fig. 6).
forming process stops before the final position of the This necking is quite pronounced and can cause some

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 SIMULTANEOUS COLD AND HOT FORGING IN A SINGLE FORMING
problems for the real forming process. But the tempera-
ture gradients between heated zone and cold zone are very
sharp. This is not exactly the case in the real process.
Thus simple forming tests have to verify these simula-
tion results. For achieving maximum flange diameters
high material volumes of the bulge have to be realized.
But if the bulge volume exceeds a critical value the re-
sulting diameter leads to a too high punch force. Incom-
plete forming of the flange is the consequence. Too big
bulges can also cause an early contact with the die. This
early contact lead to an incomplete cold forming not be
the same in the real process. Thus simple forming tests
have to verify these simulation results too.
Fig. 6. Folding defects in the flange.
The combination of this forming process with a con-
trolled cooling, as implied in Fig. 1, offers the possibility
for various in-situ thermal treatments only in the flange
zone. Slow cooling rates can be chosen for achieving a
softening effect in the flange for further cold forming
steps, such as rolling of gears.
Different workpiece geometries with local high de-
formations are suitable for this deformation process. Be-
sides also thick-walled tubes for the production of hol-
low shafts are possible. Up to now these shafts are con-
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STEP – PRINCIPLE, POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
K. Kayatürk, A. Kurt, U. Weidig, K. Steinhoff, A. E. Tekkaya
ventionally produced with drilling operations after the
forming process.
Several heating zones can be used for the production
of workpieces with several flanges. But the material flow
and the additionally influencing process parameters have
to be investigated for this application.
Fig. 7.Buckling of a partially heated part due to insuffi-
cient supported length.
7. Conclusions
The simultaneous cold and hot forging is a solution for
workpieces with local high deformations. It combines most
of the advantages of cold and hot forging. The most impor-
tant parameter of this process is the forming of the bulge
which depends on the heating zone length and tempera-
ture. The bulge determines the final flange. The combina-
tion of this simultaneous process with a following control-
led cooling offers various possibilities of influencing me-
chanical properties with the help of heat treatments.
References
[1] Körner, E.; Knödler, R.: “Possibilities of warm extrusion
in combination with cold extrusion” Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 35(1992) 3/4, S. 451 - 465
[2] Wagener, H.- W.: “Das Online-Rekristallisations-glühen
beim Kaltfliesspressen von Stahl”, Disserta-tion, THD
Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1996.
[3] Weidig, U.; Kayatürk, K.; Kurt, A.; Steinhoff, K.;
Tekkaya, A. E.: Combination of cold and hot forging in
a single forming step – production technique, workpiece
geometries, material characteristics. In: Proceedings of
the 14th Int. Forgemasters Meeting, Sept. 3-8, 2000,
Wiesbaden, Germany, pp.199-206.