Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39

Cost effective implementation of forging simulation

Nikolai Biba*, Sergei Stebounov, Andrei Lishiny
Quantor Ltd., PO Box 39, 117049 Moscow, Russia

Abstract

The development of forging simulation software has initiated the problem of its cost-effective implementation in a forging company. This
paper presents an approach to this issue based on experience gained through the development of the software, and long term collaboration
with the forging industry in everyday practical work. The effectiveness is based on advanced user friendliness of the simulation software
and its application to wide range of problems. These include: the precise control of material ¯ow during forming, material savings,
increasing tool life by means of optimisation of pre-stressed dies, and the development of pro®led dies that compensate for the elastic
deformation of the tooling set. Special attention is paid to the prediction of forging defects and ®nding ways to eliminate them. Different
aspects of simulation advantages are highlighted. # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: Hot and cold forging; Forging simulation; Forging defects; Net-shape forging

1. Introduction dif®cult to simulate, 2D forging simulation and the relatively

During the last decade the forging industry has experi-
enced a breakthrough in the development of simulation
software. In the mid-1990s forging simulation software
reached a level of accuracy that was suf®cient for solving
many practical problems of forging technology. The effec-
tiveness of forging simulation has been clearly demonstrated
by the Benchmark test organised during the ``Conference on
Metal Forming Process Simulation in Industry'' in Baden-
Baden, Germany (1994) which can be considered the most
representative and well organised independent test [1].
Since that time further development of simulation soft-
ware has been performed in three main directions:
1. Extending the software capabilities for the simulation of
more complicated problems (particularly, 3D problems).
2. Making forging simulation software more user-friendly
and affordable for everyday use.
3. Developing the methods for the most effective imple-
mentation of simulation software in the industrial
environment.
At the present time it can be stated that forging simulation
has become a practical tool for the development and opti-
misation of technology. Although extremely complicated
3D parts such as crankshafts and steering parts are still very
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: forming@quantor.com (N. Biba).
simple simulation of 3D parts are much more affordable and
have become widespread. The majority of publications
discuss the ®rst trend of simulation software development
stated above, while the second trend and, especially, the
third, have not been properly discussed yet. This paper tries
to cover this gap.
2. Main requirements for cost effective simulation
software
Quantor has been producing commercial forging simula-
tion software since 1991. Forging companies in Russia and
Europe have intensively used Quantor's ®rst program,
FORM-2D for many years. Long-term industrial implemen-
tation of FORM-2D has given Quantor a deep understanding
of the requirements of the software that is intended for
practical tasks. These requirements can be summarised as
follows: (i) the software must be understandable for any
shop-¯oor engineer or die designer; (2) the software must be
available for many people in the company; and (iii) the
software must provide automatic simulation of many var-
iants of a forging job in a short time.
These requirements were used as guidelines for design
and development of the new program ``QForm'' that was
issued in May 1998 by Quantor. QForm is not a new version
of FORM-2D. It is an absolutely new software written from
scratch and based on the most modern and sophisticated
programming technique and advanced FEM algorithms.

0924-0136/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 6 1 6 - 1
 N. Biba et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39 35

QForm is the next generation of forging simulation software

and has the following main features:

1. QForm is object-based and naturally integrated with the

Windows environment. A graphical interface makes it
clear and easy to understand, even for new PC users.
2. The completely integrated architecture of QForm
provides synchronous working of all parts of the
program (all-in-one design). Pre-processing is per-
formed in parallel with source data preparation, which
makes the user's work vivid and understandable. The
user is guided by a Data Preparation Wizard that
virtually eliminates the possibility of mistakes or missed
data.
3. Meshing and re-meshing is absolutely automatic. The
program never requires the user's interference during
simulation. There is no access to speci®c simulation Fig. 1. Formation of the lap in cold backward extrusion: (left) a
control parameters in QForm at all. This makes the photograph of the macrostructure; (right) the lap predicted by simulation
accuracy of simulation independent of the user's in the box area.
expertise.
4. Post-processing is performed concurrently with the workpiece with a lap can be transferred to the next blow
progress of simulation, which allows the immediate where its deformation can be simulated as well. After the last
interpretation of the results. blow, the red line shows the ®nal location of the lap in the
5. The user works not just with the simulation of a single product.
forming operation (one blow), but with a complete Sometimes the lap may occur due to circumferential
technological chain that includes a sequence of blows material ¯ow that is possible to analyse only by means of
separated by intermediate cooling/heating or trimming/ 3D simulation. The case in Fig. 2 shows a cap forging in an
piercing or orientation operations. The simulation of this oval die using a round punch using a round billet placed on
technological chain is performed automatically without its side. At the ®rst stage of deformation the material ¯ows
the user's interventions, which makes ``what±if'' nearly symmetrically (Fig. 2(a)). When the obtuse (left) part
analysis very fast and effective. of the lower die is ®lled (Fig. 2(b)) the material is squeezed
towards the sharp (right) corner of the lower die (Fig. 2(c)).
After 2 years of practical implementation of the program, At this stage of deformation the defect appears (Fig. 2(d)).
it is evident that QForm software satis®es the requirements
of the modern forging industry. The software is easy to learn
and is very reliable in everyday use.
The advantages of QForm became especially important
when 3D simulation facilities were developed and added to
the program. Both 2D and 3D models share the same
interface, which makes the work very effective.

3. The bene®ts of material ¯ow simulation

Simulation provides accurate prediction of material ¯ow.

It allows for analysis of die ®lling, the possible formation of
¯ow-induced defects, and the ®nal grain ¯ow in the forged
part. Each of these options may considerably reduce the
development cost and eliminate the need for trial forging.
The fully automatic ®nite element mesh generation imple-
mented in QForm ensures reliable simulation of surface-to-
surface contact that occurs in a lap area. When the lap is
closed its position is shown by a red line. The shape and the
length of this line correspond to the actual lap in a real
forging (Fig. 1). Simulation does not stop when the lap Fig. 2. The lap formation in non-symmetric cup forging obtained by 3D
appears, it continues smoothly to the end of the stroke. A simulation: the lap appears in the area inside of the white box (d).
36 N. Biba et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39

Fig. 4. Showing: (left) a photograph of the defect that is observed in a real

forged part; (right) the shape of the under surface ¯ow lines that indicate
its location and size. A magni®ed fragment is shown.

the part outline over the deformed shape and the predicted
grain ¯ow.
The presented examples illustrate only some of the ben-
e®ts that can be gained from simulation of material ¯ow.
Generally, they are: (i) providing ensured ®lling of the die
without defects; (ii) reduction of material losses; (3) reduc-
tion of the load; (iii) increase of the tool life due to lower
Fig. 3. The ¯ow-through defect occurring at the end of stroke when the
upper die is completely ®lled and the material is intensively squeezed
load and optimised material ¯ow (less die wear).
downwards.

4. Die assembly optimisation

Flow-through defects occur when the material is forced to
¯ow past a recess after it was ®lled. As written in [2] After optimisation of material ¯ow and preform shape,
``similar to laps in appearance, ¯ow-through defects may and minimisation of the load, it is necessary to check the
be shallow but indicative of an undesirable grain ¯ow stresses and deformation in the die and to develop the die
patterns or shear band that extends much further into the assembly design. QForm effectively simulates dies consist-
forging''. It is important to point out that with a ¯ow-through ing of several parts including die blocks, inserts, pegs, and
defect, there is no collapse of the billet free surface, and shrink rings. Simulation is performed for all of the parts of
consequently the program does not create a red line at its the die that are coupled and that work together as an
location. This kind of defect can be detected reliably using assembly. The die components can be ®tted with shrinkage
special facilities for material ¯ow analysis available in or clearance.
QForm. When specifying different material grades for the die
Fig. 3 shows sequential stages of a hot aluminium part components and changing the values of interference and/
forging performed in one stroke. At the ®rst stages (Fig. 3(a) or clearance, the user can search for their optimal values.
and (b)) the material ¯ows equally upwards and downwards When changing die set contours the user can estimate the
while after ®lling of the upper die cavity it goes only
downwards (Fig. 3(c) and (d)) causing the defect formation
in the area shown by the box.
The best indication of ¯ow-through defect is provided by
the so-called ``under-surface lines'' that display the loops in
the area where the material is sucked in the billet body from
the surface layers (Fig. 4).
Animation of material ¯ow by means of simulation helps
to ®nd the optimal preform shape that provides uniform and
concurrent ®lling of die cavity and minimises the load and
die wear. This kind of information is very dif®cult to obtain
by traditional trial-and-error methods but can be found
easily by simulation.
The results of forging simulation (grain ¯ow, stress, strain,
and temperature distributions) are widely used for the
estimation of product properties. Thus it is important to
have the facility to analyse the results of simulation within Fig. 5. Displaying the contour of the machined part over the grain-¯ow
the outline of the ®nished part after machining. Fig. 5 shows lines in the forged part.
 N. Biba et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39
Fig. 6. Showing: (a) the equivalent stress distribution in the solid lower
die, and (b) in the die with an insert and a shrink ring; at the end of the
stroke in hot forging. The magni®ed fragments show critical areas.
ef®ciency of replacing the solid block die by an assembly die
and of developing the best design for the assembly.
In Fig. 6(a) it can be seen the equivalent stress distribution
in the solid lower die at the end of the stroke in hot forging.
The maximum stress is observed in the corner of the lower
die cavity where local plastic deformation occurs. Such
stress distribution causes short tool life due to low cycle
fatigue cracks.
In Fig. 6(b) it can be seen the same die designed with an
insert and a shrink ring. The simulation shows a different
stress distribution compared to that of the solid die. Now
there is no stress concentration in the die corner and no
plastic zones. Such stress distribution provides a long tool
life.
The optimal die design should take into account not
only the speci®cs of the material ¯ow and the die stress
37
Fig. 7. General view of the sequence of the strokes for a forged part with a
¯at thin ¯ange.
distribution but also the deformation of the die surface. In
some cases die surface de¯ection can make the ®nal shape of
the product unacceptable. Fig. 7 shows a disk with a thin
outer ¯ange of constant thickness that is hot forged on a
mechanical press.
As seen from the ¯ow lines in Fig. 7(c), the product has
perfect grain ¯ow, but its dimensional accuracy is unaccep-
table. The total variation of the ¯ange thickness is within
0.8±0.9 mm and reaches up to 20% of the speci®ed thickness
value (4.6 mm). The distribution of this inaccuracy is highly
non-uniform, which does not allow compensating for it by
simple adjustment of the press (Fig. 8).
Thus the pro®le of the tool must be modi®ed to compen-
sate for the elastic deformation of the die surface. QForm has
a special option to invert the elastic deformation of the die
Fig. 8. Deformed surfaces of the upper and lower dies (magni®ed).
38 N. Biba et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39

Fig. 9. Graphs of upper die surface de¯ection along the radius of forged
part for the initial and pro®led dies.

and to create this pro®led shape for subsequent export to a

CAD/CAM system. The pro®led shape can be used for metal
forming simulation again to verify the effectiveness of the
die shape modi®cation. Fig. 9 shows the graphs of the
de¯ection of the upper die surface with initial (¯at) and
pro®led shapes. It can be seen that the pro®led die created
through the simulation is considerably more accurate.
Thus when the simulation is used at the stage of die design
the following bene®ts can be gained:

1. Increasing of tool life through optimisation of die

assembly, proper selection of the material grade used for
inserts, and ®nding the optimal values of shrinkage.
2. Developing a pro®led die shape that compensates its
elastic de¯ection.

5. Product quality improvement

Product quality includes several parameters and many of
them can be predicted, controlled, and improved through the
use of simulation. The authors have already discussed the
bene®ts that come from providing accurate shapes of the
forged part, defect-free material ¯ow, and prediction of the
macrostructure. At the same time simulation also can be
applied to fracture prediction, which is most probable in cold
forging. Fracture may occur when the deformation limit of
the material is exceeded (Fig. 10). Material fracture can be
Fig. 11. Showing tracked points in the billet: (a) before deformation; (b)
after deformation.
predicted by means of simulation using criterion of damage
accumulation [3].
Tracked points embedded in the billet body enable the
investigation of deformation, stress and temperature evolu-
tion in critical locations of the forged part (Fig. 11). The data
obtained by means of simulation can be used as the source
data for damage accumulation theory.
Fig. 12 shows the growth of the damage factor during
three blows in the most critical point. As seen from the
®gure, the damage factor in the third blow reaches the
critical value that makes fracture highly probable. Note that
annealing introduced after the ®rst blow eliminates the
probability of the fracture.
Thus simulation can contribute to quality improvements
by the following means:

1. Achieving accurate geometry of the product with the

Fig. 10. The crack in a cold forged part.
smallest admissible tolerances.
2. Controlled grain ¯ow and macrostructure.
3. Keeping vital process parameters (temperature, strain,
strain-rate) within ``process windows''.
4. Prediction and optimisation of metallurgical properties.
5. Prediction of fracture probability.
 N. Biba et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 34±39
Fig. 12. The damage factor accumulated in three blows at a critical point
in the cold forged part.
6. Who should use simulation software?
The outstanding usability of QForm has opened up new
possibilities for the implementation of simulation software.
The authors have developed an understanding of who parti-
cularly may need access to forging simulation software
among the staff of forging companies. This understanding
has come from the observations of how, and by whom,
QForm is actually used in our customers' plants. QForm, and
its play-only version QForm Player, provide many bene®ts
beyond simply die design optimisation.
QForm can be supplied with facilities for use in a local
network by a group of people who can share the source data
and the results of simulation. As a result QForm is available
at as many working places in the company as are necessary.
To demonstrate the bene®ts of this multi-user, team
approach to simulation, consider the following example.
Quoting the job: It is necessary to quote a job for a
customer. The user generates a preliminary simulation,
which gives him/her detailed information that allows to
accurately quote the job competitively but with a comfor-
table pro®t margin. The user can determine what press will
be needed to run it on, what size billet will be required, how
many blows it will require, what kind of production can be
expected, and thus can get a good idea of what kind of die
life can be expected.
Sales: The simulation allows making a great presentation
to the customer. Sales people can go to the customer with
QForm Player on a laptop computer and show the customer
exactly what the forges intend to do. This is an extremely
effective tool for communicating the particularities of the
forging with the customer. The impressive 3D graphics also
39
provides quite a ``wow'' factor, which can give the forging
company an advantage, and allows it to represent to the
customer that it is a technically advanced forge shop.
Forging process design: The designer's ®ne-tune the
geometry to optimise material ¯ow, eliminate any excess
waste, optimise preform shapes, and minimise overall load.
Die design: The die designers work to maximise die life.
They can experiment with inserts, shrink rings, and different
die materials.
Metallurgical process: The metallurgical department can
experiment with different initial temperatures of the work-
piece and different die temperatures. They adjust the time
between blows, and the time that the billet sits on the die.
They can determine if the part will require intermediate re-
heating.
Shop ¯oor instruction: Once the process has been com-
pletely designed, the operators can use QForm Player to play
the simulation to see the particularities of the forging before
they begin to run the job. They can see exactly how the
material ¯ows and what the forging should look like after
each impression. They can see if the forging needs to be
¯ipped over between impressions, and they can see where
lubrication is critical.
7. Conclusion
As seen from this brief overview, QForm forging simula-
tion software can contribute to increased pro®ts in a forging
company in many ways. The team-oriented use of QForm
will provides technical, economic, and marketing bene®ts to
the company. The biggest advantage can be reached when
the simulation is applied to different kinds of problems and
when the simulation software is available to many people in
the company.
References
[1] N. Biba, A. Lishny, O. Sadykhov, S. Stebounov, Finite element
simulation and computer aided design of forming technology with
FORM-2D system, in: Proceedings of the International Conference
and Workshop on Metal Forming Process Simulation in Industry, Vol.
2, Baden-Baden, Germany, 1994, pp. 302±320.
[2] T.G. Byrer (Ed.), Forging Handbook, Forging Industry Association,
1985, pp. 112±114.
[3] A.A. Bogatov, O.I. Mizhiritsky, S.V. Smirnov, Plasticity limits in metal
forming, Moscow, Metallurgia (1984) (in Russian).