Thermo-mechanically coupled FE analysis and sensitivity study of simultaneous hot/cold forging process with local inductive heating and cooling

The numerical investigation of the production of a stub shaft is presented, where the highly innovative metal forming technology of the simultaneous hot and cold forging is applied in combination with a hardening process performed directly in the closed forging dies after the forging step similar to press hardening of sheet metal. This complex forging process is completely analysed by means of a finite element simulation including the local inductive heating phase of the workpiece as well as the cooling process of the final stub shaft inside the forging dies. All relevant process parameters and the whole simulation model are documented in detail and the simulation results are discussed and validated by means of experimentally measured data, showing good agreement. Parameter studies for various properties of the model are carried out in order to investigate their influence on the geometry and the temperature field development, whereby a deeper understanding of the entire process is gained. Thus, a finite element benchmark analysis is provided for such a complex thermo-mechanically coupled structuring process.