Design of closed-die forgings is often too difficult and time consuming to be done early in the design process, but the manufacturing cost is heavily influenced by early design decisions. This paper describes a method for quickly predicting closed-die forging designs from tessellated shape files. This is performed by computationally slicing the 3D solid into 2D cross-sections and applying forging design rules to these cross-sections. This method can be used to identify the best parting line and stroke direction as well as estimate both the forging weight and shape in seconds. This information can be used early in the design process to quickly help engineers make informed decisions and comparisons even before a part design is finalized. Initial results show that this method can be applied quickly and accurately to a wide array of realistic mechanical parts.
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