Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2000) 16:720727 2000 Springer-Verlag London Limited

An Integrated Design and CAPP System for Cold or Hot Forging Products
J. C. Choi and C. Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, ERC for NSDM at Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea

This paper deals with an automated computer-aided process planning system by which designers can determine operation sequences even if they have little experience in process planning of bulk metal products by press working. The approach to the system is based on knowledge-based rules and a process knowledge base consisting of design rules is built. Knowledge for the system is formulated from plasticity theories, empirical results and the empirical knowledge of eld experts. Programs for the system have been written in AutoLISP for the AutoCAD using a personal computer. An attempt is made to link programs incorporating a number of expert design rules to form a useful package for process planing. This integrated design and computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system is composed of two main modules and nine submodules. It is designed considering several factors, such as the complexities of blank geometry, punch and die proles, the availability of press equipment, and standard parts. Results obtained using the modules enable the designer and manufacturer of cold forging or hot forging dies to be more efcient in this eld. Keywords: CAPP; Cold forging; Hot forging; Knowledgebased rules

ised method considerable interest is focused on reducing the design time required for designing and manufacturing the dies. So, it is necessary to develop computer-aided tools to automate process planning and die design to increase the competitiveness of industry. The basis of these tools is an integrated information model, which captures the complete information required by various applications such as manufacturability analysis, process planning, and process simulation. Work has been reported on the automation of computer-aided process planning and manufacturing for a product by formalising the experience of the skilled engineers [13]. In 1955, Choi et al. developed a forging-die design using a personal computer [4]. Nakahara et al. introduced a system for progressive die design [5]. Recently, Choi et al. developed a compact and practical CAD system for blanking or piercing of irregular shaped sheet metal products and stator and rotor parts [6,7]. This paper focuses on developing an integrated design and computer-aided process planning system for cold forging or hot forging, which improves productivity through reducing design time by automatically generating a process planning drawing. It shows that process planning generated in each module is satisfactory through FE-analysis verication of the submodule.

1.

Introduction 2. Structure and Working Principle of Integrated Design and CAPP System
2.1 Structure of the Integrated Design and CAPP System

Standardisation of dies is necessary to allow for the miniaturisation, weight reduction, and rapid production in modern industry. Metal forming, by which parts with a desired shape are manufactured from metal or sheet metal using a punch a die, requires this standardisation to achieve the compatibility and accuracy of components. However, the experience and intuitional decisions of skilled engineers have usually determined the conditions for bulk metal forming by press working. Those skilled engineers also manufacture parts of the die and punch. In order to solve the problem of the lack of a standardCorrespondence and offprint requests to: Professor J. C. Choi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ERC for NSDM at Pusan National University, 30 Changjeon-dong, Kumjeong-ku, Pusan, 609735, Korea. E-mail: jcchoihyowon.cc.pusan.kr

This integrated design and computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system is composed of cold forging and hot forging modules and each module has four or ve submodules. The process is accomplished without interruption, as each module holds the rules and data in common. The system is easy to use, as the dialogues are user-friendly with appropriate prompting statements for the various data required. The conguration of the system for cold forging or hot forging products is shown in Fig. 1.

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Fig. 1. Conguration of the integrated design and CAPP system for hot or cold forging products.

2.2 Operating Principle of the Integrated Design and CAPP System

2.2.1 Entity Representation

In order to reconstitute drawing entities obtained from an AutoCAD drawing, the system extracts drawing entities and converts them into starting-point and endpoint for a line, and starting-point, endpoint, and centre-point for an arc. At the same time, based on a parting line, drawing entities are divided into an upper part and a lower part. Upper part: punch part (0.0(L SpEp) (A SpEpCp) (L SpEp) . . . . . .) Lower part: die and knock out part (0.0(L SpEp) (A SpEpCp) (L SpEp) . . . . . .) where L is a line among drawing entities and A an arc, and Sp is the starting-point, Ep the endpoint, and Cp the centre-point.
2.2.2 Coordinate and Radius Representation

Where FbsType shows whether the shape of a part has inside steps or outside steps and PrG is the list of basic shapes. Hei, DaU, DaL, Ri, Ro, and Rcv are the height, the upper diameter, the lower diameter, the llet/corner radius, and the concave/convex radius.

3. Rules of the Integrated Design and CAPP System

The system uses organised rules and a database as process variables, for cold forging or hot forging, which are extracted from plasticity theories, relevant references and empirical know-how of experts in the industries. Rules organising empirical know-how and a guide to design are based on a decision tree which takes the form of IF(conditions) THEN(actions). According to the conditions, the system calculates the action part, and the results of the action part are input to the next condition. The modular structure of the system can be seen in Fig. 2. The design rules of the modules of this system are presented briey as follows.
3.1 Design Rules for Cold Forging

Representation of the geometry database, coordinate and radius representation, which can be used easily to modify the corner or llet radii, is as follows: (0.0 (x1y1z1r1) (x2y2z2r2) (x3y3z3r3) . . . . . . . .) Where x, y, z, and r are the x-, y-, and z-axis and the radius of the intersection point at the adjacent lines.
2.2.3 Feature Representation

Representation of the geometry database, feature representation, which can be used easily to recognise the geometrical features of the section, is as follows: Presentation of basic shape (FBsType (PrG1 Hei1 DaL1 Ri1 Ro1 Rcv1) (PrG2 Hei2 DaU2 Ri2 Ro2 Rcv2)

Rule 1. Working order of cold forging, the extrusion process precedes the upsetting process. Rule 2. When multi-extrusions within the working limit are carried out, they are carried out sequentially from the diameter with the least SS, where, SS = logarithmic strain. Rule 3. The forming limit of extrusion cannot exceed LSTS2*LSOS, where, LSOS = logarithmic strain of the open limit LSTS = logarithmic strain of the trapped limit D0 = diameter before working(mm) D1 = diameter after working(mm)

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Fig. 2. The modular structure of the integrated design and CAPP system.

Rule 4. The shape formed into the trapped extrusion is in accordance with that of the nal product. Rule 5. If SS is greater than LSTS at the earlier stage, extrusion is carried out with the angle avoiding internal defects in one stage. Rule 6. If SS is smaller than LSTSLSOS, trapped extrusion is carried out to the limit LSTS and then open extrusion is carried out. Rule 7. Trapped extrusion cannot be carried out continuously in one part. Rule 8. In case of multi-upsetting, they are carried out sequentially from the smallest diameter. Rule 9. In steel, if ULDR=2.25, upsetting is carried out in one stage, where, ULDR = ratio of length of upsetting to diameter. Rule 10. In steel, if 2.25ULDR=4.5 and the diameter after upsetting does not exceed 1.3 times the billet diameter, upsetting is carried out in one stage; if not, a preliminary process is required. Rule 11. If preliminary upsetting is required, the end part of the product is a conical shape. Rule 12. In steel, if 4.5ULDR=6.5 and diameter after upsetting does not exceed 1.3 times the billet diameter, upsetting is carried out in one stage; if not, a preliminary process is required and is carried out to a height of twice the bill diameter. In preliminary upsetting, an equivalent diameter is used and calculated as follows: ED = 4

Rule 2. If the number of components is over 10 000, a blocker process is required to reduce wear of the nal die. Rule 3. The longitudinal shape difculty factor is dened as follows: = P2/F P2 c /Fc

where, P = perimeter of the axial cross-section of forging F = surface area of the axial cross-section of forging Pc = perimeter of the axial cross-section of the cylinder which circumscribes the forging Fc = surface area of the axial cross-section of the cylinder which circumscribes the forging Rule 4. Latitudinal shape difculty factor is dened as follows: = 2Rg Rc

where, Rc = maximum radius of the forged piece Rg = radius distance from symmetry axis to the centre of gravity of half the cross-section (mm) Rule 5. Shape difculty factor is dened as follows: Sf = Rule 6. If the number of components is under 10 000 and the shape difculty factor is over 2.5, a blocker process is required, and if the difculty factor under 2.5, it is not required. Rule 7. If the shape difculty factor of the blocker is over 2.5, a preliminary forming process to reduce the factor value is required before the blocker process, and if under 2.5, it is not required. Rule 8. If the capacity of the machine is greater than the maximum forging load and defects or fracture of tools occur, a blocker process is required.

4 d4 0 + d1 2

where ED = equivalent diameter.

3.2 Design Rules for Hot Forging

Rule 1. Diameter and height of billet are decided according to the ratio of area reduction and the ratio of material criteria obtained from the database for the input data.

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Fig. 3. A sample product for carrying out the cold forging module.

Fig. 4. A feasible shape after carrying out the forging design submodule.

Fig. 5. Automatic process planning for the sample in Fig. 3.

4. Application and Results of the Integrated Design and CAPP System

This paper reports the results obtained in each submodule. when a press working product made by metal forming, such as cold forging or hot forging, is processed by the developed integrated design and computer-aided process planning system.
4.1 Application to the Cold Forging Module

The cold forging module is carried out to assess the results of the forging design submodule. Figure 3 shows a section of the selected sample and the initial input screen for users. The material is AISI 1010 that is assumed to anneal and lubricate at room temperature after cutting. A billet diameter, of 35.60 mm, is input for a solid part to be transformed into a

forged part, as shown in Fig. 3. The press to be used is selected and the forming sequence design submodule process is carried out. After carrying out this submodule process, the modied section to prevent undercut is shown in Fig. 4. In this gure, a llet radius and a corner radius is added because of the sharp edge in the part section. A machining allowance is given in the direction of metal ow. A deep or narrow groove or slot in a part that is impossible to form is removed. The clearance between die and material is considered in the case of a trapped extrusion, so that the input billet diameter, 35.60 mm, is changed to 35.40 mm. An automated process planning drawing generated in this submodule according to the design rules for cold forging is shown in Fig. 5. Trapped extrusion is carried out in the rst process and open extrusion is carried out with a 15 half die angle in the second process. In the third process, the user obtained a

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Fig. 6. A owchart of the solid upsetting process.

Fig. 7. A stress distribution diagram of a trapped forward extrusion, the second process in Fig. 5, generated in the process analysis submodule.

feasible product by carrying out the upsetting processes for the upper and lower part at the same time. A owchart of the solid upsetting process can be seen in Fig. 6. Process variables such as strain, punch pressure, die pressure and load in each process are calculated by the slab method and the upper-bound method according to a yes or no for heat treatment at the middle stages and these results are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

In the case of a trapped extrusion in the second process, the material of the insert is selected as STD11 and that of the stress ring is STD61. Figure 7 shows the die drawing and the stress distribution diagram from the process analysis submodule for the above case which are automatically generated in this submodule. In order to verify the output result for trapped extrusion, the FE-analysis verication submodule is carried out and the

A Design and CAPP System for Cold or Hot Forging Table 1. Results of process variables using billet with diameter 35.6 mm after annealing. Variables Stain Process Punch pressure (kg mm2) Die pressure (kg mm2) Forming load (ton) 41.18 67.61 24.97 176.59

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Table 2. Results of process variables using billet with diameter 35.6 mm. Variables Stain Process Punch pressure (kg mm2) Die pressure (kg mm2) Forming load (ton) 41.18 67.61 37.33 288.08

Cropping Trapped extrusion Open extrusion Cylindrical upsetting

0.63 0.31 0.68

67.92 25.08 133.75

46.26 3.42 68.78

Cropping Trapped extrusion Open extrusion Cylindrical upsetting

0.63 0.31 0.68

67.92 37.5 218.21

46.26 15.84 153.23

Fig. 8. Results obtained form the FE-analysis verication submodule for the trapped extrusion in Fig. 5.

Fig. 9. A sample product for carrying out the hot forging module.

results are shown in Fig. 8. The results show 69 ton for forming load which is 2 ton larger than that of Table 2 and are in good agreement with the results in Table 2 that are generated in the cold forging module. The maximum effective strain is created near die land and is 0.80 and lling is successful. Using these results, the die is prevented from being broken in advance of actual production.

4.2 Application to Hot Forging Module

When an axisymmetric product as shown in Fig. 9 is applied to the forging design submodule of the hot forging module, the results calculated in this submodule are considered here. An axisymmetric sample with a maximum diameter of 100 mm, which has a rib at the end section and a web at the

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J. C. Choi and C. Kim Table 3. Results of process planning at the nal stage. Process variables Shape factor Flash landwidth Flash weight Blank height Blank weight Die height Flash thickness Flash volume Blank width Blank volume Die width 1.645 12.152 0.424 206.492 4.990 200.000 3.169 151 395.303 104.822 1 781 969.947 300.000

Fig. 10. Results carried out in the forging design submodule for the sample product.

Fig. 11. Automatic process planning for the sample in Fig. 9.

middle section, is taken. In order to convert the machined part into the forging part, input items of the forging design submodule are required as shown on the right in Fig. 9. Mechanical properties of the input material are obtained from the database. If undercuts exist in the section of the sample, the shape drawing is modied.

Fig. 12. Results obtained from the FE-analysis verication submodule for the processes in Fig. 11.

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Figure 10 shows a section of the forged product obtained by carrying out the forging design submodule process. The nisher die design submodule checks forming feasibility of the billet as one stage in the nal die manufacture and outputs process variables such as maximum load, stress distribution and a ow model. In the case of infeasible forming in one stage owing to defects, or when mass production is impossible, the blocker design submodule carries out the blocker process, which improves tool life by reducing the wear of the llet part of the die. After the blocker design submodule checks the forming feasibility for the forging product, Al 7075, shown in Fig. 10, the results of this submodule show that the blocker process is not required as the shape difculty factor of the forging product is 1.645 according to the design rules for hot forging. The results obtained from a process drawing generated in the nisher die design submodule are shown in Fig. 11. The results of the calculated process variables generated in the nisher die design submodule are shown in Table 3. FE-analysis verication of the design submodule is carried out for the output results of the process planning in Fig. 11, and the generated results are shown in Fig. 12. The results of the hot forging process planning given in Fig. 11, show successful lling of material in the die corner generated by the FEanalysis verication design submodule. Based on a rule-based approach, this module has been developed for axisymmetric or plain-strain parts. Design variations according to different forging requirements can be estimated easily from the output results.

4. By developing the integrated design and CAPP system, 3D modelling and generation of tool path of die set can be realised by using UPL (user programming language) in CAM software. This system has the advantage that it can be used by a novice who has only basic knowledge of tool design. In order to develop further this powerful tool in this eld, the developed CAPP system will be extended. More techniques and experience used in actual workshops will be quantied. It will also consider the working condition and characterisation of various machine tools. The system will be implemented to generate a die set drawing automatically suitable for process planning of a product.
Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) through the Engineering Research Center for Net Shape and Die Manufacturing at Pusan National University.

References
1. Zone-Ching Lin and Ho Chang, Application of fuzzy set theory and back-propagation neural networks in progressive die design, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 15(4), pp. 268281, 1996. 2. F. Wang and L. Chang, Determination of the bending sequence in progressive die design, Proceedings Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 209, pp. 6773, 1995. 3. Zone-Ching Lin and Yung-Chuan Chang, Sash sheet metal development and the application of a back-propagation neural network in the calculation of the developed length, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 69, pp. 95105, 1997. 4. J. C. Choi, B. M. Kim, S. W. Kim and C. H. Kim, Computeraided forging-die design for two-dimensional cross-sectional components, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 62, pp. 124132, 1995. 5. S. Nakahara, T. Kojima, S. Tamura, A. Funimo, S. Choichiro and T. Mukumuru, Computer progressive die design, Proceedings of 19th MTDR Conference, pp. 171176, 1978. 6. J. C. Choi, B. M. Kim, H. Y. Cho, C. Kim, An automated die design system for blanking and piercing of stator and rotor parts, Journal of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering, 14, pp. 2233, 1997. 7. J. C. Choi, B. Y. Kim, H. Y. Cho and Chul Kim, A compact and practical CAD system for blanking or piercing of irregularshaped sheet metal products and stator and rotor parts, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, pp. 931 963, 1998.

5. Conclusion
This research developed an integrated design and CAPP system to carry out automated process planning for cold forged or hot forged products. The CAPP system has the following features: 1. It quanties the techniques and experience needed in process planning for cold forging or hot forging products and standardises design rules for formulating a design procedure. 2. Based on knowledge-based rules, the integrated design and CAPP system automatically recognises a drawing and transfers the recognised drawing data into a corresponding module to carry out process planning. 3. Each module of this CAPP system can generate a process planning drawing for cold forging or hot forging operations in graphic form on the screen.