NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF MULTI-DIRECTIONAL HOT FORGING FOR THE REDUCTION OF FORGING DEFECTS

Hot forging is a metal forming process widely used in the industry. Among the many advantages are the possibility of severe plastic deformation and the improvement of mechanical properties, leading to the continued development of forging for industrial applications. The conventional hot forging of complex geometry components is performed in several steps, what is favorable to initiate, or propagate defects formed in the early steps due to the deformation path. In order to obtain products in a single processing step, this research aimed the development of an innovative multi-directional forging process. The finite element method was used to simulate the manufacturing of a 38MnSiVS5 steel connecting rod to preview the distributions of temperature, equivalent strain and von Mises stress in the forged product, as well as the formation of defects. Billets with the same volume and different lengths and widths were simulated to achieve the best material flow, which avoids fold and other forging defects, and leads to the complete flashless filling of the die. The simulation results made possible to know the proper billet geometry and the best friction condition for the proposed process.