20th International Forgemasters Meeting - IFM 2017

Four Die Forging Device (4DFD) is a known equipment to improve the productivity at the forging shop when compared with conventional forging process. Despite the improvement of productivity it is supposed that the quality should be at least similar. In fact, previous finite element simulation showed the forging process using 4DFD produces less effective strain in the forged bar due to less forging passes than the conventional forging process with two dies. However, the amount of shear strain obtained with 4DFD should improve the forged bar microstructure quality. To corroborate that scenario, the following study compared the metallurgical quality based on carbide distribution between 4DFD and conventional forging processes. Experiments were conducted in order to obtain round bars from cold work tool steel forging ingots. The carbide distribution at the final product was analyzed for both forging processes. In parallel, finite element simulations were performed to analyze the strain components, e.g. normal and shear, and to correlate with the microstructure obtained in the real process, supporting the comparison analysis. The results showed that 4DFD process promotes a similar or better carbide distribution around the cross section area, depending on the applied process.