Numerical simulations of hot die forging processes using finite element method

Both open and closed-die forging processes are widely spread in metal working industry for discrete part production. As a rule this kind of processes are non-steady-state one, which makes their analytical investigation rather difficult. Due to that some of the steps in the process planning and design are depending on rules based on the experience gained in the forging practice. In order to assist them and facilitate engineering solutions, some computer packages have been recently developed. The most of the current software packages are based on the finite elements method and in the present paper the well-known FORM-2D is applied. It is taken into consideration a new approach for classification of the axis-symmetrical forged parts and some representative examples of them have been discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.