Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

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Effect of preform design on forging load and effective stress during

closed die hot forging process of pin
Vishal A. Pandya ⇑, PM. George
Mechanical Engineering Department, BVM Engineering College, V V Nagar 388120, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In hot forging process the design of preform is very important to minimize the forging load and effective
Received 5 July 2020 stress to improve the die life and quality of components. In this paper three preforms have been designed
Received in revised form 17 July 2020 with the rule of volume constancy for the pin’s head which are forged under 150 ton friction screw press.
Accepted 4 August 2020
The forging load and effective stress have been analyzed by finite element analysis. The effects of preform
Available online 24 September 2020
volume and length to diameter ratio of preform geometry have been also analyzed and validated
experimentally.
Keywords:
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Preform
Forging load
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
Effective stress ence on Materials, Processing & Characterization.
Hot Forging Process

1. Introduction the preform to reduce the underfill defect with minimum forging
load and effective stress [9].
Forging is defined as the process in which metal is plastically In closed die hot forging the load is drastically increased after
deformed with application of temperature and pressure [1]. The the formation of flash (Fig. 1). The flash required the high levels
forging process is classified according to the working temperature. of effective stress because the thickness of flash is very small and
If it is done at room temperature than it is called cold forging pro- cooler than the bulk of forging [9–11].
cess, if it is done above room temperature but below the recrystal- The quality of closed die forging depends on so many parame-
lization is known as warm forging and if it is done at above ters like process design, die design, preform design, die load, metal
recrystallization temperature than it is known as hot forging pro- flow, equipment etc. [12], but the ample effect of all these param-
cess [2]. In closed die hot forging process the service life of dies eters on forging design is not within the scope of this paper. The
are very important due to economical reasons and also finishing objective of this work is to study the effect of preform geometry
quality of forged components. The factors influencing die life are on forging load and effective stress during closed die hot forging
mechanical loading, thermal fatigue, plastic deformation, wear, process by using modeling and simulation software Deform – 3D
etc. [3–5]. and validating it by experiments.
Mechanical components are manufactured by several manufac- In a closed die hot forging, the design of preform is significant.
turing processes but forged products exhibit excellent mechanical The quality of the preform is important because it render the qual-
properties at lower cost, hence hot forging process is widely used ity of finished component. The relationship between the volume of
in the manufacturing of fasteners head, automobile components the preform and the volume of the finish forging is critical. If the
and gears [6,7]. The appropriate selection of parameters for forging geometry of the preform is complex, the distribution of volume
process and preform are needed for getting defect-free forging in the preform may also be important to ensure the proper metal
components [8]. Preform is the initial geometry that transformed flow in the finish forging. Thus, a precision preform is necessary
into final geometry of the part without causing material failure for precision forging [10].
or degrading material properties [2]. So, it is necessary to optimize The aim of this work is to utilize the finite element analysis for
optimization of preforms geometry to reduce the forging load and
effective stress for manufacturing of pin which is used in material
⇑ Corresponding author. handling equipments.
E-mail address: vapandya@[Link] (V.A. Pandya).

[Link]
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Processing & Characterization.
V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

Fig. 1. Load in closed die forging.

The CAD models of these preforms and dies are prepared in Creo (ii) All convex and concave radii in the preform have to be
and imported into DEFROM – 3D to analyze the effect of preform greater than those in the final form to assist proper metal
geometry on forging load and effective stress for the fully filled flow from a simple shape to a more complicated shape
die cavity. The obtained results of finite element analysis have (iii) The preform dimensions in the force direction, if possible,
been validated with the help of forging machine – 150 ton friction should be larger than the end form dimensions to assist
screw press. the finishing impression filling by upsetting but not extru-
sion, because of the lesser pressure needed.
2. Preform design
The last two rules are very crucial for defect-free forged parts
The precise control of the preform volume is necessary to insure with a minimal flash amount and minimal effective stress, but
the filling of die cavity and to avoid overloading the dies. The fol- without an experience it is difficult to determine. Model experi-
lowing are requirements for the successful flashless forging pro- ments or computer simulations could be applied with great suc-
cess [13,14]: cess to meet present requirements [17].
In this paper pin used in material handling equipments is ana-
 The volume of the initial preform and final finish cavity of the lyzed for closed die hot forging process using finite element anal-
die must be the equal. ysis. As shown in Fig. 2, the geometry of pin head is complex and
 The position of the preform in the die cavity must be very accu- it is difficult to calculate the actual theoretical volume of it. As
rate to control the excess volume flow rate outside of the die per the Fig. 2 the required pin head diameter is 70 mm and the
cavity. thickness is 30 mm. Taking the shrinkage of 2.5% and machining
 If there is a compensation space in the dies, the real cavity must allowance of 3 mm, the final pin head diameter and thickness are
be filled first. taken as 75 mm and 35 mm respectively. Considering the circular
cross section the theoretical volume of pin head is 154547 mm3.
The correct design of the preform geometry in closed die hot Taking 3% burning loss, the total theoretical volume of pin head
forging strongly affects the quality of the forging part, the flash is 159183 mm3.
and the energy losses. It is not possible to achieve the good quality In closed die hot forging process, it is necessary to maintain
of forging without an appropriate preform design. The general length to diameter ratio less than or equal to 1.8 [10,18]. If this ratio
rules regarding preform design have also been well known for is not properly maintained than buckling will occur, proper metal
many years and they include [15,16]: flow will not take place and underfill defect may produce during
forging process. By considering the volume constancy rules and
(i) The cross-sectional preform area has to be equal to the length to diameter ratio the three preforms have been design for
cross-sectional area of the final impression finite element analysis. Dimensions of preforms are shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2. Pin drawing.

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V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

1) Preform 1 : Ø 50 mm  85 mm length
2) Preform 2 : Ø 50 mm  90 mm length
3) Preform 3: Ø 50 mm  95 mm length

Pin material is AISI 1015 carbon steel with 0.16% carbon, 0.47%
Manganese, 0.02% Phosphorus and 0.03% Sulphur. Mechanical
properties of AISI 1015 are given in Table 1.
Circular cross section of die is used for simulation as well as
actual closed die hot forging process. The dimensions of top die
and bottom die are shown in Figs. 4 and 5 respectively.
H-13 Die Steel material is utilized for making the top die and
bottom die for experiment as well as finite element analysis.
Chemical composition and mechanical properties of H 13 die
steel material are given in the Table 2 and 3 respectively.

3. Finite element analysis

Finite element analysis software - Deform 3D is used to simu-

late the closed die hot forging process. For the accurate simulation
the entire process has been divided as per following steps:

1. Preform is transferred from furnace to the die and it is purely

heat transfer process, so in the simulation control only heat
transfer mode is selected for the 10 s. This process is defined
as a function of time with 50 number of simulation steps for a
constant time increments of 0.2 s are selected.
2. After the completion of first simulation, we need to locate pre-
form on bottom die accurately so, dwell period is required. This
Fig. 3. Preforms drawing.
is also purely heat transfer process. In the simulation control
only heat transfer mode is selected for the 2 s. This process is

Table 1
Mechanical properties of AISI 1015.

Density (x 1000 kg/m3) Poisson’s ratio Tensile strength (MPa) Elastic Modulus (GPa) Yield strength (MPa) Elongation (%) Reduction in area (%)
7.7 – 8.03 0.27 – 0.3 424.03 190 – 210 324.05 31.0 69.7

Fig. 4. Top die.

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V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

Fig. 5. Bottom die.

Table 2
Chemical composition of H 13 die steel.

C Mn Si Cr Ni Mo V P S
0.37% 0.38% 1.05% 5.13% 0.18% 1.26% 0.98% 0.02% 0.021%

Table 3
Mechanical Properties of H 13 die steel.

Density (x 1000 kg/m3) Poisson’s ratio Tensile strength (MPa) Elastic Modulus (GPa) Yield strength (MPa) Elongation (%) Reduction in area (%)
7.76 0.27 – 0.3 640–2000 190 – 210 380–440 5–25 69.7

defined as a function of time with 10 number of simulation 4. Results & discussion

steps for a constant time increments of 0.2 s are selected. Here,
the relationships between the preform and the dies are needed As shown in Fig. 7, upto 23.24 s there is no contact between pre-
to define. Only heat exchange with environment is taking place form 3 and top die and the magnitude of load is zero. At 39.5 s the
during the dwell period so, free resting of preform on bottom magnitude of load is reached to the maximum value of 7483.223
die is selected. kN. Formation of flash is also observed.
3. After successfully completion of simulation for dwell process, it Fig. 8 shows the effective stress in preform3. The effective stress
is required to set the simulation control for forging blow pro- is maximum at the outer most side of the flash because the thick-
cess. Bottom die is moving into upward direction (+z axis) dur- ness of flash is very less and it is also cooler than the bulk forming
ing this process. Bottom die is selected as primary die with a portion of the preform. The maximum effective stress (Von Mises)
speed of 4 mm / second in the upward direction. During the at 39.5 s is 639 MPa.
forging blow process the deformation of preform is taking place The relation between the total times taken for the fully filled die
so, the relationships between the preform and the dies are cavity by the simulation process to the maximum effective stress
required to redefine and forming is selected in place of free rest- of the preforms is shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 9, shows the comparison
ing. The numbers of simulation steps to 70 with constant die of the maximum effective stress for all the preforms. Preform3
displacement of 1.5 mm are selected. has maximum effective stress of 639 MPa while the preform1 has
minimum effective stress of 286 MPa. The reduction in the effec-
Analysis of all performs is carried out but for convenience pro- tive stress is 55.24%.
cedure of perform3 is discussed in this section. Fig. 6 shows the The formation of flash is more if the volume of preform is higher
meshing of these objects i.e preform3, top die and bottom die. than the final part. Fig. 10 shows the amount of flash with fully
The absolute mesh types with tetrahedral shape of the elements filled die cavities after the completion of finite element analysis.
are considered during the meshing. Table 4 shows the results of The results of finite element analysis for all the preforms are
meshing for preform3, top die and bottom die. summarized in Table 5. The requirement of forging load has been
At the end of the successful completion of the simulation the increased when the volume of the preform is larger. The effective
load requirement for closed die hot forging process, effective stress stress in the preform increases when length to diameter ratio is
(Von Mises), flash and the effect of length to diameter can be increased. The volume of preforms increases than the formation
predicted. of flash is also increased.

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V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

Fig. 6. Meshing of objects.

Table 4
Mesh result of objects.

Object Number of nodes Surface polygon Mesh elements Tetrahedral elements Size ratio Minimum element size
Preform3 2371 3014 9165 1 4 mm
Top die 1628 1858 6715 2 3 mm
Bottom die 1395 1928 5225 2 3 mm

Fig. 7. Forging load prediction for Preform3. Fig. 8. Effective stress for Preform3.

ware and validating its results through the experiments on forging

For validation of the simulation results, experiments have been machine 150 ton friction screw press.
performed on 150 ton friction screw press. Fig. 11 shows the final From the results of simulation and experiments the following
forged preform1 and preform3. The flash formation of preform1 is conclusions have been drawn out:
found to be minimum. The simulation of the closed die hot forging
process shows good agreement with experimental results of pre- 1) Load requirement for the closed die hot forging process can
form geometry and its flash formation. be reduced with reduction in the preform volumes.
2) Effective stress on preform increases when length to diame-
5. Conclusion ter ratio of preform geometry is increased.
3) Flash formation increases with the increment in the volume
The objective of this work is to minimize the forging load and of the preforms.
effective stress for closed die hot forging process by optimizing 4) Finite element analysis simulation is found to be very help-
the preform design with the help of finite element analysis soft- ful in selection of appropriate preform geometry.

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V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

Fig. 9. Maximum Effective Stress for all Preforms.

Fig. 10. Fully filled die cavity and formation of flash.

Table 5
Result of finite element analysis of all preforms.

Preform Dimensions (mm) Volume (mm3) Maximum Effective stress (MPa) Load (kN) Observations
Dia. Length Die filling Flash
1 50 85 166812.5 286 1460 Fully Filled Minimum
2 50 90 176625.0 425 6050 Fully Filled Average
3 50 95 186437.5 639 7460 Fully Filled Maximum

Fig. 11. Final forged preforms.

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V.A. Pandya, PM. George Materials Today: Proceedings 44 (2021) 106–112

6. Future scope [5] Subhash Chander, Vikas Chawla, Enhancing durability of hot work tool steel by
duplex treatments: A Review, Assian J. Eng. Appl. Technol. 5 (1) (2016) 23–28.
[6] K. Dehghani et al., Finite element effective stress analysis of forging dies to
 Effective stress analysis of the die can be performed in order to improve their fatigue life, Mater. Sci. Poland 28 (1) (2010) 139–152.
analyze the best way to achieve the better die life with the high- [7] Subhash Chander et al., ‘‘Failure of hot forging dies – an updated perspective”,
5th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization,
est accuracy.
Mater. Today:. Proc. 4 (2017) 1147–1157.
 Electro-upsetting can be used to make an elliptical preform [8] D. Sheth et al. (2014), ‘‘Exploring forming load in closed – die forging”, 5th
which reduces the forging load compare to conventional International & 26th All Indian Manufacturing Technology, Design and
Research Conference, Peg.280-1 to 280-6, IIT Guwahati, Assam
forging.
[9] P. Naresh et al., Design and Analysis of a Hot Forging Dies, Int. J. Eng. Trends
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[10] ‘‘Metal working and Bulk forming”, ASM Hand book volume 14.
Declaration of Competing Interest [11] ‘‘Manufacturing Engineering and technology”, Serope kalpakjain, Addison-
Wesley; 3 edition - 1995
[12] S. Shamasundar, Process simulation based optimization of precision forging
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan- process, International Seminar on Precision Forging, Nagoya, Japan, 2003.
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared [13] Drop Forging Research Association Hand Book ,S E Rogers 1995
[14] V. Vazquez, T. Altan, et al., Die design for flashless forging of complex parts, J.
to influence the work reported in this paper. Mater. Process. Technol. 98 (2000) 81–89.
[15] Vazquez and Taylan Altan et al(2000) , ‘‘New concepts in die design-physical
Acknowledgement and computer modeling applications”,Journal of Materials Processing
Technology 98, 212-223.
[16] B.I. Tomov, V.I. Gagov, Modeling and description of the near-net-shape forging
The authors thankfully acknowledge to Dr. Navneet Khanna, of cylindrical spur gears, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 92–93 (1999) 444–449.
Asst. Prof., Mech. Engineering, IITRAM for exploring Deform 3D [17] B.I. Tomov et al., Numerical simulations of hot die forging processes using
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software. I am also thankful to Mr. Chent and Dr. Vijay Chaudhary
[18] F.R. Biglari et al., Near net shape forging using the backward deformation
for their support and guidance. method, VII International Conference on Computational Plasticity COMPLAS,
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References
Further Reading
[1] H. Parikh, B. Mehta, et al., Forging process analysis and preform design, FIA,
[Link], 2000. [1] A.N. Bramley, D.J. Mynors, The use of forging simulation tools, Mater. Des. 21
[2] Cold and Hot forging fundamentals and applications, Taylan Altan, American (2000) 279–286.
Society of Metals, February 2005. [2] Yohng-Jo Kim et al. (2009), ‘‘A study on life estimation of hot forging die”,
[3] Ahmed Dagne Temesgen et al. (2015), ‘‘Improvement of hot forging process by International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, Vol. 10, No.
minimized die effective stress using finite element method”, International 3, 105 – 113, Springer.
Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, Issue 5, 1316-1329. [3] A. Horita et al. (2012), ‘‘Fatigue analysis of forging die”, Journal of Thermal
[4] Xiaoxun Zhang et al. (2012). ‘‘Effective stress analysis and failure of H13 steel Effective stresses, Vol. 35, 157 – 168, Taylor & Francis.
hot-forging die for automobile engine crankshaft”, Applied Mechanics and
Materials Vol. 217-219, 1994-1997, Trans Tech Publications Switzerland.

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