Chapter 18:

Fundamentals of Metal Forming

Rizwan M. Gul
NWFP UET

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FUNDAMENTALS OF METAL FORMING

 Overview of Metal Forming

 Material Behavior in Metal Forming
 Temperature in Metal Forming
 Strain Rate Sensitivity
 Friction and Lubrication in Metal Forming

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Metal Forming
 Metal Forming includes a large group of manufacturing
processes in which plastic deformation is used to change the
shape of metal workpieces
 The tool, usually called a die, applies stresses that exceed yield
strength of metal  The metal takes a shape determined by the
geometry of the die
 Stresses to plastically deform the metal are usually compressive
 Examples: rolling, forging, extrusion
 However, some forming processes
 Stretch the metal (tensile stresses)
 Others bend the metal (tensile and compressive)
 Still others apply shear stresses
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Material Properties Required in
Metal Forming
 Desirable material properties:
 Low yield strength and high ductility
 These properties are affected by temperature:
 Ductility increases and yield strength decreases when work
temperature is raised
 Effect of temperature gives rise to distinctions between cold, warm
and hot working
 Other factors:
 Strain rate and friction

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Bulk Deformation Processes

 Metal Forming processes can be classified as (1) bulk

deformation processes and (2) sheet metalworking processes
 Bulk deformation processes are characterized by significant
deformations and massive shape changes
 "Bulk" refers to workparts with relatively low surface
area‑to‑volume ratios
 Starting work shapes include cylindrical billets and rectangular
bars

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BASIC BULK DEFORMATION PROCESSES

(a) Rolling (b) Forging

(c) Extrusion (d) Drawing Page 6

Sheet Metalworking

 Sheet metalworking processes are forming and related operations

performed on metal sheets, strips, and coils
 High surface area‑to‑volume ratio of starting metal, which
distinguishes these from bulk deformation
 Often called pressworking because presses perform these
operations
 Parts are called stampings
 Usual tooling: punch and die

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BASIC SHEET METALWORKING OPERATIONS

(a) Bending (b) Deep Drawing

(c) Shearing Page 8

Material Behavior in Metal Forming
 Typical stress-strain curve for most metals is divided into an elastic region and
a plastic region
 Plastic region of stress-strain curve is primary interest because material is
plastically or permanently deformed
 In plastic region, metal's behavior is expressed by the flow curve:

n
  K
where K = strength coefficient; and n = strain
hardening exponent
• Stress and strain in flow curve are true stress and
true strain
• Flow curve is a valid relationship for cold working
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 Flow Stress

 For most metals at room temperature, strength increases when deformed due
to strain hardening
 Flow stress = instantaneous value of stress required to continue deforming the
material-to keep metal “flowing”

Yf  K n
where Yf = flow stress, that is, the yield strength as a function of strain
 The flow stress of the material is the strength property that determines forces
and power required to accomplish a particular forming operation

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Average Flow Stress
 In some processes, like extrusion, average flow stress ( the
average value
of stress over the stress-strain curve from the beginning of strain
to the final maximum value that occurs during deformation) is
more useful than the instantaneous flow stress
 Determined by integrating the flow curve equation between zero and the final
strain value defining the range of interest

_
K n
Yf 
where _= average flow stress; and 1=maximum
n strain during deformation
Yf
process

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Material Behavior in Metal Forming

Y f  K n

K n
Yf 
1 n
Yf Flow Stress
 Maximum strain
for forming
process
K Strength coefficient
Yf
Average flow stress

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Temperature in Metal Forming

 For any metal, K and n in the flow curve depend on temperature

 Both strength and strain hardening are reduced at higher temperatures
 In addition, ductility is increased at higher temperatures
 Any deformation operation can be accomplished with lower forces and power
at elevated temperature
 Three temperature ranges in metal forming:
 Cold working
 Warm working
 Hot working

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Cold Working

 Performed at room temperature or slightly above

 Many cold forming processes are important mass production
operations
 Minimum or no machining usually required
 These operations are near net shape or net shape processes
 Due to strain hardening the strength of the metal increases and
ductility decreases during cold working
 Advantages Vs. Disadvantages

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Advantages of Cold Forming vs.
Hot Working
1. Better accuracy  closer tolerances
2. Better surface finish
3. Strain hardening increases strength and hardness
4. Grain flow during deformation can cause desirable directional
properties in product
5. No heating of work required  lower fuel cost and higher
production rates

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Disadvantages of Cold Forming

1. Higher forces and power required

2. Surfaces of starting workpiece must be free of scale and dirt
3. Ductility and strain hardening limit the amount of forming that
can be done
 In some operations, metal must be annealed to allow further
deformation
 In other cases, metal is simply not ductile enough to be cold worked

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Warm Working

 Performed at temperatures above room temperature but below

recrystallization temperature
 Dividing line between cold working and warm working often
expressed in terms of melting point:
 0.3Tm, where Tm = melting point (absolute temperature) for metal
 Lower strength and strain hardening while higher ductility

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Advantages of Warm Working

1. Lower forces and power than in cold working

2. More intricate work geometries possible
3. Need for annealing may be reduced or eliminated

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Hot Working
 Deformation at temperatures above recrystallization
temperature
 Recrystallization temperature = about one‑half of melting point
on absolute scale
 In practice, hot working usually performed somewhat above
0.5Tm
 Metal continues to soften as temperature increases above
0.5Tm, enhancing advantage of hot working above this level
 0.75 Tm is generally considered as upper limit as heat
generated due to deformation can lead to melting above that
temperature
 Recrystallization may take place during or after the deformation

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 Recrystallization is a process by which deformed grains are replaced by a
new set of undeformed grains that nucleate and grow until the original
20grains have been entirely consumed. Recrystallization is usually
accompanied by a reduction in the strength and hardness of a material and
a simultaneous increase in the ductility.

The most important industrial uses are the softening of

metals previously hardened by cold work, which have lost
their ductility, and the control of the grain structure in the
final product.
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Why Hot Working?

 Capability for substantial plastic deformation of the metal ‑ far

more than possible with cold working or warm working
 Why?
 Strength coefficient is substantially less than at room temperature
 Strain hardening exponent is zero (theoretically)
 Ductility is significantly increased
 Advantages Vs. Disadvantages

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Advantages of Hot Working vs. Cold Working

1. Workpart shape can be significantly altered

2. Lower forces and power required
3. Metals that usually fracture in cold working can be hot formed
4. Strength properties of product are generally isotropic (no grain
orientation)
5. No strengthening of part occurs from work hardening
 Advantageous in cases when part is to be subsequently processed by
cold forming

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Disadvantages of Hot Working

1. Lower dimensional accuracy

2. Higher total energy required (due to the thermal energy to heat
the workpiece)
3. Work surface oxidation (scale), poorer surface finish
4. Shorter tool life

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Strain Rate Sensitivity

 Theoretically, a metal in hot working behaves like a perfectly

plastic material, with strain hardening exponent n = 0
 The metal should continue to flow at the same flow stress, once that
stress is reached
 However, an additional phenomenon occurs during deformation,
especially at elevated temperatures: Strain rate sensitivity

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What is Strain Rate?
 Strain rate in forming is directly related to speed of
deformation v
 Deformation speed v = velocity of the ram or other
movement of the equipment
v.
Strain rate is defined:

. h
where  = true strain rate; and h = instantaneous height
of workpiece being deformed
• In most practical operations, valuation of strain rate is
complicated by
- Workpart geometry
- Variations in strain rate in different regions of the part
• Strain rate can reach 1000 s-1 or more for some metal forming
operations
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 26Strain rate is the rate of change in strain (deformation) of a material with
respect to time.

 The strain rate at some point within the material measures the rate at which
the distances of adjacent parcels of the material change with time in the
neighborhood of that point.
 It comprises both the rate at which the material is expanding or shrinking
(expansion rate), and also the rate at which it is being deformed by
progressive shearing without changing its volume (shear rate).
 It is zero if these distances do not change, as happens when all particles in
some region are moving with the same velocity (same speed and direction)
and/or rotating with the same angular velocity, as if that part of the medium
were a rigid body.

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Effect of Strain Rate on Flow Stress
 Flow stress is a strong function of temperature
 However, at hot working temperatures, flow stress also depends on strain rate
 As strain rate increases, resistance to deformation increases
 This effect is known as strain‑rate sensitivity
 As strain rate is increased, resistance to deformation increases. This usually
plots as a straight line on a log-log graph:
Strain Rate Sensitivity Equation:

Yf  C m
where C = strength constant (similar but not equal to strength
coefficient in flow curve equation), and m = strain‑rate
sensitivity exponent
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Figure 18.5 ‑ (a) Effect of strain rate on flow stress at an
elevated work temperature. (b) Same relationship
plotted on log‑log coordinates

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Observations about Strain Rate
Sensitivity
 Increasing temperature decreases C, increases m
 At room temperature, effect of strain rate is almost negligible
 Flow curve is a good representation of material behavior

 As temperature increases, strain rate becomes increasingly important

in determining flow stress
 A more complete expression for flow stress as a function of both
strain and strain rate would be the following:

Y f  A n m
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Figure 18.6 ‑ Effect of
temperature on flow stress
for a typical metal. The
constant C in Eq. (18.4),
indicated by the intersection
of each plot with the vertical
dashed line at strain rate =
1.0, decreases, and m
(slope of each plot)
increases with increasing
temperature

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Page 31
Friction in Metal Forming
 Friction in metal forming arises because of the close contact
between the tool and work surfaces and the high pressures that
drive the surfaces together in these operations
 In most metal forming processes, friction is undesirable:
 Metal flow is retarded
 Forces and power are increased
 Wears tooling faster
 Friction and tool wear are more severe in hot working (see table)
 Friction in metal forming is more severe than machine parts
(gears, cams, bearings etc) where there is low contact pressures,
low to moderate temperatures, and ample lubrication to avoid
metal to metal contact

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Lubrication in Metal Forming
 Metalworking lubricants are applied to tool‑work interface in many forming
operations to reduce the harmful effects of friction
 Benefits:
 Reduced sticking, forces, power, tool wear
 Better surface finish
 Removes heat from the tooling
 Lubricants used for cold working operations include: mineral oils, fats and
fatty oils, water based emulsions, soaps, and other coatings
 Hot working is sometimes performed dry; the used lubricants include minerals
oils, graphite and glass

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Considerations in Choosing an
Appropriate Metalworking Lubricant
 Type of forming process (rolling, forging, sheet metal drawing,
etc.)
 Hot working or cold working
 Work material
 Chemical reactivity with tool and work metals
 Ease of application
 Toxicity, flammability and cost

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 Home Work # 2 & 3 (Due Date )
 The following project is assigned to get practical know-how
of the deformation processes, and to be more familiar with
the local manufacturing industry of the region.
 You will have to visit a local industry involved in deformation
processes and communicate with Technical Manager(s) or
General Manager to gain in-depth knowledge about the
industry. Select an industry that can be accessed easily,
visit the industry and get detail knowledge about its
processing methods, procedure used in the setup and the
types (and names) of the products produced.
 A short report maximum four pages will have to be
submitted outlining in detail the name and location of the
industry visited, processing methods employed, and the
products produced by the industry. Any samples obtained
and photographs taken will also be useful in evaluating the
report.
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