FORMING (Conformado)

Geometry, microstructure and materials

FORMING vs. CASTINGS?: Even when modern castings can possses good
structural integrity and can compete with traditionally forged components, there
are THREE REASONS why, for many products, forming is preferable to castings:
- GEOMETRY
- MICROSTRUCTURE
- Some materials are difficult to process as liquids (ceramics,
refractory metals)
Geometry: products with one dimension significantly different in size from the others (long
products like rails or thin products like car body panels) are difficult to produce by casting
and are usually made by a forming process.
Forming processes also have geometrical limitations. In general, products containing
cavities or complex re-entrants features are difficult to produce by forming.
Casting and Forming will be in competition with each other only for products which
possess geometries obtainable by either method.
Microstructure: Microstructure determines the properties of the final product!. Sound
castings exhibiting excellent mechanical properties can be produced with good casting
design BUT these are usually made from short freezing range eutectic alloys. IT IS FAR
MORE DIFFICULT TO PRODUCE SOUND CASTINGS IN LONG FREEZING RANGE
ALLOYS (why ????).
Do we have to restrict our choice to eutectics?! Most of the metallurgical tricks we can use
to get the product properties we want (precipitaion hardening, martensitic transformation,
etc.) are generally available ONLY IN LONG FREEZING RANGE ALLOYS
Easy way of producing an alloy: homogenously mix the elements in the liquid state BUT ...
THIS HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURE IS NOT RETAINED ON SOLIDIFICATION AND A CAST
MICROSTRUCTURE IS PRODUCED. Even relatively fine microstructures contain
compositional and microstructural inhomogeneities which are significantly larger than can be
tolerated in many products. THEN .?
THEN .?: HEAT TREATMENT to decrease compositional gradients BUT
MICROSTRUCTURAL INHOMOGENENEITIES ARE MOST EFFICIENTLY REMOVED BY
PLASTIC DEFORMATION
THEREFORE: Forming Processes are often used to convert CAST MICROSTRUCTURES
into more homogeneous WROUGHT MICROSTRUCTURES !
WROUGHT ALLOY PRODUCTION
Microstructure of a cast low alloy steel
ingot
The data listed in engineering design reference books correspond to WROUGHT MATERIALS even when,
virtually, all alloys have been originally obtained by casting, i.e., the COARSE GRAIN STRUCTURE,
SEGREGATION and POROSITY often found in cast metals have been removed by HOT WORKING.
The raw material for most FORMING and CUTTING processes is already in this WROUGHT condition!
Continuous
casting
To produce a WROUGHT MICROSTRUCTURE a forming process must remove both:
SEGREGATION and POROSITY: best achieved by one of the following HOT WORKING
processess: ROLLING, EXTRUSION or FORGING to break up the dendrite structure
decreasing the effective diffusion distance and healing up any porosity
Large deformations are needed to produce wrought structures directly from ingot to product:
large plastic strains. Example: HOT EXTRUSION with extrusion ratios (reduction in area) of
200:1.
Processes that impose less plastic strain on the material such as CLOSED DIE FORGING
or SHEET METAL FORMING require the raw material to have a wrought structure!!!!: they
MUST use EXTRUDED or ROLLED bar or sheet stock as input material.
In Summary:
- Forming processes require high forces and resilient tooling. The tooling costs often need to
be spread over large production volumes.
- Forming is often preferred over Casting for reasons of:
* Product geometry
* Microstructure (and therefore, Properties!)
- In Casting it is EASY to produce COMPLEX SHAPES but DIFFICULT DIFFICULT to produce GOOD GOOD
MICROSTRUCTURES MICROSTRUCTURES
Classifying Forming Processes
Forming processes involve the INTERACTION of a WORKPIECE (the starting
material) with some form of TOOLING to produce a change in shape: based on
the ability of some materials to FLOW PLASTICALLY in the solid state
- Little or no waste
- Large machines, expensive tooling
- Large production quantities are normally necessary to justify forming as a production route
A FIRST CLASSIFICATION is based on the GEOMETRY of the WORKPIECE: 3D or 2D or:
BULK DEFORMATION PROCESSES: the workpiece is subjected to triaxial
stresses which are usually compressive in nature, hindering failure processes and
improving formability. Examples: forging (card F1), rolling (F3) and extrusion (F4)
SHEET DEFORMATION PROCESSES: the workpiece surface area to thickness
ratio is relatively high. Both the workpiece and the imposed stresses can be considered
2D. Examples: sheet metal forming (F2), vacuum forming (F6) and blow molding (F7).
Sheet material is usually produced first by continuous bulk processes such as rolling followed
by blanking and only then the material is pressed into closed dies.
Stress Systems in:
sheet processes bulk processes
Sheet deformation processes are best approximated as plane stress
Bulk deformation processes are best approximated as plane strain
Most sheet deformation processes involve a combination of bending and
stretching. Stress state can be approached as plane stress. The
consequence is that forming loads are not particularly high in sheet processes
and Forming Presses are more often limited by their maximum deformation
than by their maximum load.
In bulk deformation processes: constrain in one direction (z direction in
previous picture) resulting in close to plane strain condition: the workpiece
becomes longer and no wider!. The same constraint operates in rolling. Therefore
there is a finite stress along the z direction. Plane strain processes involve a
hydrostatic stress component wich is normally compressive and this effectively
hinders failure processes promoting formability.
Load and Flow Modelling:
The main interest in modelling plastic flow is in predicting loads for bulk
forming, since sheet forming loads are relatively low.
Approximations to material stress-strain curves: rigid-plastic; elastic-plastic;
rigid-plastic with work hardening; elastic-plastic with work hardening, Hollomon
(W = K I
n
); etc.
Work and Heat of Deformation:
total work of deformation
ideal work of deformation
work of friction
redundant work
efficiency of the deformation process
Ideal Work of Deformation: U
ideal
Redundant work: U
redundant
+
+
Work of Friction: U
friction
Tool Workpiece Interaction:
* Friction
* Acting Loads

!
f
d U
ideal
I
I
I W
0
.
redundant work in extruding sheet material through a die
Total WORK of DEFORMATION
U
total
= U
ideal
+ U
friction
+ U
redundant
total
ideal
U
U
! L Process Efficiency:
c
U
c
U
T
ideal total
. . .
max
V L V
! } (
Temperature Increase:
RISK !!
Hot Shortness
Hot shortness in Al alloy extrusions
Distribution of tooling pressure in plane
strain forging: the friction hill
PLANE STRAIN FORGING
)

'
+

'

! ! ) (
2
exp ) ( a x
h
Y x p x
y
Q
W
From Equilibrium + Tresca (low friction):
)

'
+

'

! !
h
a
Y x p
Q 2
exp 0
Maximum tooling pressure:

'
+

'

+ !
h
a
Y p
Q
1
Mean tooling pressure:

'
+

'

+ ! !
h
a
w a Y w a p F
Q
1 ) . 2 ( ) . 2 (
Tooling load:
Friction in close die forging

'
+

'

+ !
h
a
r Y F
3
2
1
2
Q
T
For a cylindrical workpiece:
ROLLING
Use of front and back tension to reduce friction in rolling
Friction Hill in rolling

'
+

'

'
+

'

+ !
2 1
2
1
2
1
h
b
h
r
Y p
Q
Mean rolling pressure:
Strip rolling in four stand continuous mill
Backing rolls