CHAPTER CONTENTS

13
METAL FORMING 2
2.1 Overview of Metal Forming
Defnitions
Material Considerations
Temperature in Metal Forming
Friction Effects
2.2 Bulk deformation Processes
Classifcation of Bulk Deformation Processes
Rolling
Forging
Extrusion
2.3 Sheet Metalworking
Classifcation of Sheet Metalworking Processes
Cutting Operations
Bending Operations
Deep Drawing
Other Sheet Metalworking Operations
High-energy-rate Forming (HERF)
2.1 OVERVIEW OF METAL FORMING
Defnitions
Plastic Deformation Processes
Operations that induce shape changes on the workpiece by plastic deformation under forces applied
by various tools and dies.
Bulk Deformation Processes
These processes involve large amount of plastic deformation. The cross-section of workpiece changes
without volume change. The ratio cross-section area/volume is small. For most operations, hot or warm
working conditions are preferred although some operations are carried out at room temperature.
Sheet-Forming Processes
In sheet metalworking operations, the cross-section of workpiece does not changethe material is only
subjected to shape changes. The ratio cross-section area/volume is very high.
Sheet metalworking operations are performed on thin (less than 6 mm) sheets, strips or coils of metal by
means of a set of tools called punch and die on machine tools called stamping presses. They are always
performed as cold working operations.
Material considerations
Material Behavior
In the plastic region, the metal behavior is expressed by the fow curve:
=
n
where K is the strength coeffcient and n is the strain-hardening (or work-hardening) exponent. K and n
are given in the tables of material properties or are calculated from the material testing curves.
Flow stress
For some metalworking calculations, the fow stress Yf of the work material (the instantaneous value of
stress required to continue deforming the metal) must be known:
Y
f
=
n
Metal Forming 14 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Average (mean) fow stress
In some cases, analysis is based not on the instantaneous fow stress, but on an average value over
the strain-stress curve from the beginning of strain to the fnal (maximum) value that occurs during
deformation:

Yf
Y
Yf

f
=K
n
Specific energy u
Stress-strain curve indicating location of average fow
stress Y
f
in relation to yield strength Y and fnal fow
stress Y
f
The mean fow stress is defned as

here
f
is the maximum strain value during deformation.
n
K
Y
n
f
f

Work-hardening
It is an important material characteristic since it determines both the properties of the workpiece and
process power. It could be removed by annealing.
Temperature in metal forming
The fow curve is valid for an ambient work temperature. For any material, K and n depend on
temperature, and therefore material properties are changed with the work temperature:
log
l
o
g

Increase in the
work temperature
K
n
True stress-strain curve showing decrease in strength
coeffcient K and strain-hardening exponent n with
work temperature
There are three temperature ranges-cold, warm, and hot working:
TA 0.3Tm 0.5Tm 0.75Tm Tm
Cold
working
Warm
working
Hot
working
Temperature range for different metal forming
operations. T
A
is the ambient (room) temperature,
and T
m
is the work metal melting temperature
Metal Forming 15 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Cold working is metal forming performed at room temperature.
Advantages: better accuracy, better surface fnish, high strength and hardness of the part, no
heating is required.
Disadvantages: higher forces and power, limitations to the amount of forming, additional
annealing for some material is required, and some material are not capable of
cold working.
Warm working is metal forming at temperatures above the room temperature but bel-low the
recrystallization one.
Advantages: lower forces and power, more complex part shapes, no annealing is required.
Disadvantages: some investment in furnaces is needed.
Hot working involves deformation of preheated material at temperatures above the re-crystallization
temperature.
Advantages: big amount of forming is possible, lower forces and power are required, forming
of materials with low ductility, no work hardening and therefore, no additional
annealing is required.
Disadvantages: lower accuracy and surface fnish, higher production cost, and shorter tool life.
Friction effects
Homogeneous Deformation
If a solid cylindrical workpiece is placed between two fat platens and an applied load P is increased until
the stress reaches the fow stress of the material then its height will be reduced from initial value of h
o

to h
1
. Under ideal homogeneous condition in absence of friction between platens and work, any height
reduction causes a uniform in-crease in diameter and area from original area of A
o
to fnal area A
f
.
force
h
o
A
o
d
o
force
work piece
force
h
f
A
f
d
f
force
Homogeneous deformation
The load required, i.e. the press capacity, is defned by
P = Y
f
A
f
Inhomogeneous deformation
In practice, the friction between platens and workpiece cannot be avoided and the latter develops a
barrel shape. This is called inhomogeneous deformation and changes the load estimation as follows
f
o
o
f f s f
A
h
d
Y A k Y P
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ = =
3
1

Metal Forming 16 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology

where is the frictional coeffcient between workpiece and platen, and k
s
is the shape factor.
force
force
force
h
o
d
o
work piece
force
h
f
d
f
friction forces
Inhomogeneous deformation with
barreling of the workpiece
2.2 BULK DEFORMATION PROCESSES
Classifcation of Bulk Deformation Processes
Basic bulk deformation processes
(a) rolling, (b) forging, (c) extrusion, (d) drawing
Rolling: Compressive deformation process in which the thickness of a plate is reduced by
squeezing it through two rotating cylindrical rolls.
Forging: The workpiece is compressed between two opposing dies so that the die shapes are
imparted to the work.
Extrusion: The work material is forced to fow through a die opening taking its shape
Drawing: The diameter of a wire or bar is reduced by pulling it through a die opening (bar
drawing) or a series of die openings (wire drawing)
Metal Forming 17 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Rolling
Defnition
Rolling is a Bulk Deformation Process in which the thickness of the work is reduced by compressive
forces exerted by two opposing rolls:

Steps in rolling
The preheated at 1200
o
C cast ingot (the process is known as soaking) is rolled into one of the three
intermediate shapes called blooms, slabs, or billets.
v Bloom has a square cross section of 150/150 mm or more
v Slab (40/250 mm or more) is rolled from an ingot or a bloom
v Billet (40/40 mm or more) is rolled from a bloom
These intermediate shapes are then rolled into different products as illustrated in the fgure:
The process of fat rolling
Production steps in rolling
Metal Forming 18 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Next pictures show some production steps in fat and shape rolling:
Powerful tongs lift an ingot from the soaking pit
where it was thoroughly heated to the rolling
temperature
Steel bloom enters the rolling mill
Structural shapes are rolled from blooms on mills
equipped with grooved rolls
Hot saw cuts rolled shapes to customer length after
delivery from the fnishing rolling mill
Metal Forming 19 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Flat rolling
V
f
V
r
V
o
Work velocity
Roll velocity
L Neutral point
Side view of fat rolling and the velocity diagram indicating work and roll
velocities along the contact length L
The work is squeezed between two rolls so that it thickness is reduced by an amount called the draft, d
d = t
o
-t
f
If the draft is expressed as a fraction of the starting block thickness, it is called reduction, r:
r = d/t
o
Rolling increases the work width from an initial value of w
o
to a fnal one of w
f
, and this is called
spreading.
The inlet and outlet volume rates of material fow must be the same, that is,
t
o
w
o
v
o
= t
f
w
f
v
f
where v
o
and v
f
are the entering and exiting velocities of the work. The point where roll velocity equals
work velocity is known as the no-slip point or the neutral point.
The true strain and the mean fow stress are defned by
true strain , and mean fow stress
Friction occurs with a certain coeffcient of friction on either sides of no-slip point. Both friction
forces act in opposite directions and are not equal. The entrance force is bigger so that the resulting
force pulls the work through the rolls. The maximum possible draft d
max
depends on and roll radius
R and is given by
d
max
=
2
R

The rolling force F is estimated as
where L is the contact length, approximately

The power P required to drive each roll is
P=2NFL
where N is the rotational speed of the roll.
n
K
Y
n
f

f
o
t
t
ln
wL Y F
f

f o
t t R L (
Metal Forming 20 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Shape rolling
The work is deformed by a gradual reduction into a contoured cross section (I-beams, L-beams,
U-channels, rails, round, squire bars and rods, etc.).
Ring rolling
Thick-walled ring of small diameter is rolled into a thin-walled ring of larger diameter:
Thread rolling
Threads are formed on cylindrical parts by rolling them between two thread dies:
Ring rolling used to reduce the wall thickness and increase the diameter of a ring
Thread rolling with fat dies
Gear rolling
Gear rolling is similar to thread rolling with three gears (tools) that form the gear profle on the work.
Gear rolls
Work
Gear rolling between three gear roll tools
Metal Forming 21 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Forging
Defnition
Forging is a Bulk Deformation Process in which the work is compressed between two dies. According to
the degree to which the fow of the metal is constrained by the dies there are three types of forging:
Open-die forging
Impression-die forging
Flashless forging
Three types of forging: (a) open-die forging, (b) impression die forging, and (c) fashless forging
Open-die forging
Known as upsetting, it involves compression of a work between two fat dies, or platens. Force calcula-
tions were discussed earlier.
Sequence in open-die forging illustrating the
unrestrained fow of material. Note the barrel shape
that forms due to friction and inhomogeneous
deformation in the work
Open-die forging of a multi diameter shaft
Metal Forming 22 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Impression-die forging
In impression-die forging, some of the material fows radially outward to form a fash:
Schematics of the impression-die forging process showing
partial die flling at the beginning of fash formation in
the center sketch, and the fnal shape with fash in the
right-hand sketch
Stages (from bottom to top) in
the formation of a crankshaft by
hot impression-die forging
Estimation of the maximum force F can be approximately done by
F = K
f
Y
f
A
where K
f
is the shape factor ranging from 6 to 10, bigger for more complex shapes, Y
f
is the yield
strength of the material at work temperature, A is the projected area of the part, including fash.
Flashless forging
The work material is completely surrounded by the die cavity during compression and no fash is
formed:
Flashless forging: (1) just before initial contact with the workpiece,
(2) partial compression, and (3) fnal push and die closure. Symbol
v indicates motion, and F - applied force.
Most important requirement in fashless forging is that the work volume must equal the space in
the die cavity to a very close tolerance. For force estimation, the same equation as in impression-die
forging is applied.
Metal Forming 23 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Coining
Special application of fashless forging in which fne detail in the die are impressed into the top and
bottom surfaces of the workpiece. There is a little fow of metal in coining.
Coining operation: (1) start of cycle,
(2) compression stroke, and (3) ejection
of fnished part
Forging machines
The next fgures show some examples of the common forging machines-hammers and presses:
Drop forging hammer, fed by conveyor and
heating unit at the right of the scene.
A 35 000-ton forging press.
In the foreground is a 120-kg,
3-m aluminum part that has
forged on this press.
Metal Forming 24 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Extrusion
Defnition
Extrusion is a Bulk Deformation Process in which the work is forced to fow through a die opening to
produce a desired cross-sectional shape.
Typical shapes produced by extrusion
Extrusion is performed in different ways therefore different classifcations are available:

v Direct and indirect extrusion
v Hot and cold extrusion
v Continuous and discrete extrusion
Direct and indirect extrusion
(Left) Direct extrusion to produce hollow or semihollow
cross section. (Right) Direct extrusion to produce solid
cross section. Schematic shows the various equipment
components.
In indirect extrusion (backward, inverse
extrusion) the material fows in the direction
opposite to the mo-tion of the ram to
produce a solid (top) or a hollow cross
section (bottom).
Force and power analysis in extrusion
The ram force, F, is estimated as
F = p A
o
where A
o
is the billet cross-sectional area, and p is the ram pres-
sure,

where D
o
is the original diameter of the billet, L is the length of
the billet in the die, and
x
is the extrusion strain,

x
= a+b ln(A
o
/A
f
),
a and b being the empirical constants, usually a=0.8 and
b=1.2~1.5.
Power required is calculated as P = Fv , where v is the ram
velocity.
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ c =
o
x f
D
L 2
Y p
Metal Forming 25 Valery Marinov, Manufacturing Technology
Wire and Bar Drawing
Defnition
Wire and Bar Drawing is a Bulk Deformation Process in which the cross-section of a bar, rod or wire is
reduced by pulling it through a die opening, as in the next fgure:
Drawing of a rod, bar, or wire
Bar drawing is a single-draft operation. By contrast, in wire drawing the wire is drawn through a series
of dies, between 4 and 12.
The draft, d, is defned as
d = D
o
- D
f
and reduction, r, is given by
r = d/D
o
Force and power analysis in drawing
The draw force F is calculated as a product of the drawn cross-section area A
f
and the draw stress
d
F = A
f

d
The draw stress
d
is defned as

where is the factor, that accounts for inhomogeneous deformation, usually around 1.0.
f
o
f d
A
A
ln
tan
1 Y |
|
.
|

\
|
o

+ = o