Experimental Investigations and Automatic Numerical Optimization of a Bulk Metal Forming Process to Avoid Forging Folds

摘要

The detection of process failures in earlier design stages is essential for preventing high additional costs and a loss of time. Here, the finite element analysis (FEA) is an inherent part of the process design. This work represents numerical and experimental investigations, which were carried out in order to identify factors that influence the fold formation in an upsetting process of hollow parts, i.e. different forging velocities, different materials or the friction. The experimental results were compared with the numerical simulations. Based on these investigations, an automatic optimization model was created, which is the focus of this work. It allows varying and optimizing the experimentally determined process parameters, influencing the fold formation, automatically with the aim to produce a workpiece free of folds. For this purpose the commercial Software-System Forge (Transvalor) was used. The results of this work provide basic information for the development of complex processes. It can be shown that the automatic numerical optimization is an indispensable tool for the process design. It helps determining optimal process parameters individually and avoiding extensive trial and error investigations and hence a loss of time and costs.