Advanced Forging Manufacturing Innovations

Forging process is widely used in the manufacture of critical mission sensitive components that require high strength and better consistent performance in service conditions. Process modeling for forging processes has been very successful in the last three decades. Modeling forging process serves us a virtual tryout tool and it offers lot more details about the forging process and parts than an expensive, time consuming shop floor trial would. Forging modeling results provide vital information regarding material flow, die fill, potential defect formation, tool failure and microstructure evolution. With increasing complexities of the forged geometries and push for near net shape forging, it is challenging to design an optimum forging progression that will result in reduced material and processing cost while maximizing the quality and robustness of the forged component. Optimization techniques can be effectively used in forging process modeling to achieve the desired goal of reducing the cost while maximizing the quality of the forged product. Sensitivity analysis will help in understanding how variabilities and uncertainties associated with the key processing variables and material properties will impact the forging process design. While manufacturing process modeling capabilities are mature, forging process optimization and sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of forging process and part design is still at a nascent stage. Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation (SFTC) develops and supports forging process modeling system, DEFORM, which is widely used by the forging industry around the globe for the past 20 years. In this project, SFTC is proposing to systematically extend optimization techniques and sensitivity analysis to forging process modeling. During Phase I, SFTC will investigate a modeling framework that enables optimization of the forging processes which will help in minimizing the overall cost of the forging including material input weight and processing cost. SFTC will also investigate the application of sensitivity analysis for forging process modeling, paving the way for robust process design, which may lead to reduced scrap and rework cost. Phase I tasks will demonstrate the technical viability and commercialization potential of forging process optimization methods.