COMPUTER-AIDED APPROACH FOR DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF COLD-FORGING SEQUENCES FOR AUTOMOTIVE PARTS

Over the past few years computer aided engineering techniques have been widely used for research in metal forming. Amongst them finite element analyses have been greatly successful in providing understanding of metal flow and die stresses for different forming processes. However, little work has been done in the integration of analysis and optimal design because of the computational intensity of such problems. This paper describes a new method for design optimization of process variables in cold forging sequences. To minimize the possibility of the initiation of tensile fracture in the outer race preform of a constant velocity joint manufactured by cold forming operations, an adaptive Micro Genetic Algorithm was implemented. The chosen design variables were the preform diameter, the maximum number of forming operations, the number of extrusion and upset operations, the amount of area reduction in each pass, the amount of upset in each upset, and the included angles in the extrusion and upset dies. Significant reduction in the maximum damage value was achieved as a result of this optimization process.