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Forging Equipment and General analysis of
forging






R. Chandramouli
Associate Dean-Research
SASTRA University, Thanjavur-613 401

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Table of Contents
1.Forging Equipment and General anal ysis of forging ........... 3
1.1 Forging equipment ................................................................................ 3
1.2 Analysis of forging: ................................................................................ 4
1.2.1 Homogeneous upsetting: ................................................................... 4







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1.Forging Equipment and General anal ysis of forging
1.1 Forging equipment
Forging presses apply the required force gradually. Presses are of hydraulic type, mechanical or
screw type. Eccentrics, knuckles or cranks are used in these presses for converting rotary
motion into linear motion of the ram. The stroke of ram decides the energy available at the end
of stroke. Hydraulic presses use hydraulic power. They are power driven machines. They are
usually slow in operation. Screw presses operate based on friction wheel and screw. Both
presses operate at slower ram speeds and can provide constant ram force. Presses give a
squeezing type of action on the workpiece. They are suitable for forging and long stroke
operations. Hydraulic presses are suitable for extrusion type operations as full load is available
at all times. In power hammers, the total energy available for forging is equal to the kinetic
energy of the ram plus the hydraulic pressure energy. In case of flywheel operated presses, the
energy available is dependent on the moment of inertia of flywheel as well as its rotational
speed.


Fig. 1.1.1: A board hammer and hydraulic press


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Forging hammers provide impact loads. Gravity hammers provide the forging load by the falling
weight of the ram. One half of the die is fixed on the ram and the other half is fixed on machine
table. They are suitable for impression die forging, where a single blow or a few blows will
deform the metal inside the cavity. Board hammers operate by frictional rising of the board
with ram. Power hammers use pneumatic or steam power additionally to accelerate the ram.
Total energy available at ram end is the sum of kinetic energy of the ram and the power of the
air or steam used.
1.2 Analysis of forging:
A number of methods are available for the analysis of metal forming processes. Slab method is
based on mechanics approach, in which we consider the static equilibrium of forces on the
billet. In another method, the velocity field of the deforming material is found first. From
kinematically admissible velocity field, the work done during the process is formulated. The
formulated work equation is then solved. This approach is known as upper bound analysis.
In this section we analyse the open die forging processes upsetting of plane strip and circular
disc in order to determine the forging force, using slab method. First we ignore friction and
write down the theoretical equation for the forging load. Then we consider the effect of
friction.
1.2.1 Homogeneous upsetting:
Considering a cylindrical billet of initial height h
o
, the strain rate in upset forging can be
expressed as: = -v/h where h is the instantaneous height and v is the velocity of the ram. As
the height of the billet gets reduced the strain rate increases to very high values.
The true height strain of the billet can be found from the formula:
------------------- 1
where h
o
is initial height and h
f
is final deformed height of billet.
Neglecting friction at interface between the billet and die, the ideal forging force at the die-
work interface is given by:
F = Y A, -------------------- 2
A is area of billet at any instant. Y is yield stress of the material of billet.
Applying volume constancy principle we have:
A h = A
o
h
o

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Therefore, F = Y A
o
h
o
/ h --------------------- 3
Here, Y can be taken to be the flow stress of the material at a given strain.
Work done during the deformation is given as:
W = = A
o
h
o
------------------------------- 4

The average flow stress is given by: -------------- 5
Therefore, work done is given by W = Volume = A
o
h
o
-----------6
And the forging load is F = A -----------------7
The area of the forged disc keeps increasing as forging proceeds. As a result the force required
increases.
Flow stress also increases due to work hardening. This also leads to the application of greater
forging load with continued deformation.

Frictionat work-tool interface makes the flow of metal nonhomogeneous. Metal in contact with
the die surface is subjected to maximum restraint due to friction shear stress. Flow here is the
least. Whereas, at the central section the restraint being the lowest, material flow is the
maximum here. This kind of non-uniform flow results in bulging of the lateral surface of the
disc. This is called barreling. In case of rectangular billets, there will be double barreling.
In case of hot forging, the material in contact with the dies gets cooler and hence offers more
resistance to deformation. The central section is offering least resistance to flow. Further, the
coefficient of friction in hot forming is high. All these result in barreling.
Due to barreling, the forging load required is higher than that predicted by the theoretical
equation above.
We can write the forging force for non-homogeneous upsetting as:
F = Ak
f
, ---------------------------------8
wherek
f
is a forging shape factor, given by:
k
f
= 1 +
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Fig. 1.2.1.1: Barreling during upset forging due to friction
Example: Cold upset forging of a cylindrical billet of initial height 60 mm and initial diameter 30
mm, results in a final reduced height of 40 mm. The material of the billet has flow stress given
by the expression: MPa. The coefficient of friction between the billet and die
surfaces can be assumed to be 0.1. What is the forging force required at the reduced height?
Solution:
We may use the approximate expression, equation 8, for solving this problem.
F = Ak
f
F is forging force, is average flow stress, A is area of billet.
Kf is a factor which accounts for friction and is given by:
k
f
= 1 +
Applying the principle of volume constancy,
Aoho = AfhfAf= Aoho/hfdf = 51.97 mm
True strain = ln(ho/hf) = 0.405
Average flow stress = = 208.65 MPa
Kf = 1.052
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F = 275.68 kN Answer