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2016

Numerical simulation of metal

forming processes

Contents Capabilities

Capabilities Coupled modeling of deformation and heat transfer for simulation of cold,
Analyzing manufacturing processes with DEFORM warm, or hot forging processes (all products).
The DEFORM system Extensive material database for many common alloys including steel,
aluminum, titanium, and super-alloys (all products).
Boundary conditions
User defined material data input for any material not included in the
Running the simulation
material database (all products).
Information on material flow, die fill, forging load, die stress, grain flow,
defect formation and ductile fracture (all products).
Rigid, elastic, and thermo-viscoplastic material models, which are ideally
suited for large deformation modeling (all products).

Capabilities (2) Capabilities (3)

Elastic-plastic material model for residual stress and spring back
problems. (Pro, 2D, 3D).
Integrated forming equipment models for hydraulic presses, hammers,
screw presses, and mechanical presses (all products).
User defined subroutines for material modeling, press modeling,
fracture criteria and other functions (2D, 3D).
Contour plots of temperature, strain, stress, damage, and other key
variables simplify post processing (all products).
Self contact boundary condition with robust remeshing allows a
simulation to continue to completion even after a lap or fold has formed
(2D, Pro).
Multiple deforming body capability allows for analysis of multiple
deforming work pieces or coupled die stress analysis. (2D, Pro, 3D).
Fracture initiation and crack propagation models based on well known
damage factors allow modeling of shearing, blanking, piercing, and
machining (2D, 3D).
Porous material model for modeling forming of powder metallurgy
products (Pro, 2D, 3D).

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Define your proposed process

Final forged part geometry

Analyzing manufacturing processes with Material

Tool progressions
DEFORM
Starting work piece/billet geometry
Processing temperatures, reheats, etc.
Gather required data
Material data
Processing condition data

Geometry representation Geometry representation

The recommended sequence for designing a Before you begin work on your DEFORM
manufacturing process using DEFORM simulation

Spend some time planning the simulation.

Using the DEFORM pre-processor, input the problem definition for Consider the type of information you hope to gain from the
the first operation analysis.
Submit the data for simulation Are temperatures important?
Using the DEFORM post-processor, review the results What about die fill?
Repeat the preprocess-simulate-review sequence for each Press loads?
operation in the process Material deformation patterns?
If the results are unacceptable, use your engineering experience Ductile fracture of the part?
and judgment to modify the process and repeat the simulation Die failure?
sequence
Can the part be modeled as a two dimensional part, or is a three
dimensional simulation necessary?

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The DEFORM system consists of three major

components
1. A pre-processor for creating, assembling, or modifying the data
required to analyze the simulation, and for generating the required
The DEFORM system database file.
2. A simulation engine for performing the numerical calculations required
to analyze the process, and writing the results to the database file.
The simulation engine reads the database file, performs the actual
solution calculation, and appends the appropriate solution data to
the database file.
The simulation engine also works seamlessly with the Automatic
Mesh Generation (AMG) system to generate a new FEM mesh on
the work piece whenever necessary.
3. A post-processor for reading the database file from the simulation
engine and displaying the results graphically and for extracting
numerical data.

Pre-processor

The DEFORM preprocessor

uses a graphical user interface to assemble the data required

to run the simulation.

Input data
Input data includes

Object description
Includes all data associated with an object, including geometry,
mesh, temperature, material, etc.

Material data
Includes data describing the behavior of the material under the
conditions which it will reasonably experience during
deformation

Inter object conditions

Describes how the objects interact with each other, including
contact, friction, and heat transfer between objects

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Input data
Input data includes
Simulation controls
Includes instructions on the methods DEFORM should use to solve the
problem,
the conditions of the processing environment,
What physical processes should be modeled,
how many discrete time steps should be used to model the process,
etc.

Inter material data

Describes the physical process of one phase of a material transforming
into other phases of the same material in a heat treatment process.
For example, the transformation of austenite into pearlite, banite, and
martensite.

Input data Input data

Deformation boundary conditions

Velocity
Boundary conditions Force
Pressure
Displacement and shrink fit
Movement
Contact

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Deformation boundary conditions
Velocity
Velocity of each node can be specified independently in the x
and y directions (or x, y, and z directions in 3d)
Velocity boundary conditions are normally set to zero for
symmetry conditions (see section on symmetry in this manual),
but may also be set to a specified non-zero value for processes
such as drawing in which a work piece is pulled through a die
Deformation boundary conditions
Displacement and shrink fit
A specified displacement can be specified in any direction for
each node.
This is frequently used for specifying shrink fit conditions
between a die insert and a shrink ring.
Deformation boundary conditions
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Deformation boundary conditions
Force
Force boundary conditions specify the force applied to the node
by an external object.
The force is specified in default units.
For die stress analysis, the force that the die exerted on the
work piece can be reversed and interpolated onto the dies by
using the interpolation function.
Pressure
The pressure boundary conditions specifies a uniform, or linearly
varying, force per unit area on the element faces connecting the
specified nodes.
Deformation boundary conditions
Movement
The movement of nodes on an object can be specified.
If the movement boundary condition is specified, object
movement controls must also be specified.
Contact
The Contact boundary condition displays inter-object boundary
contact conditions on a given object.
The user should gain some experience with DEFORM before
using this option.
Thermal boundary conditions
Heat exchange with the environment
This boundary condition specifies that heat exchange between element
faces bounded by these nodes and their environment should occur.
Heat flux
Specifies an energy flux per unit area over the face of the element
bounded by the nodes. Units are energy/time/area.
Nodal heat
Specifies a heat source at the given nodes. Units are energy/time.
Temperature
Specifies a fixed temperature at the given nodes.
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Input data

Running the simulation

Running the simulation Running the simulation

Simulation engine Log (LOG) files

The simulation engine is the program which actually performs
the numerical calculations to solve the problem.
The simulation engine reads input data from the database,
then writes the solution data back out to the database.
Log files are created when a simulation is running. They contain
general information on starting and ending times, remeshings (if any),
and may contain error messages if the simulation stops unexpectedly.
Message (MSG) files

As it runs, it creates two user readable files which track its Message files are also created when a simulation is running.
progress. They contain detailed information about the behavior of the
simulation, and may contain information regarding why a simulation
has stopped.

The five different types of simulations

Lagrangian Incremental:
Type of simulations
To be used for all the conventional forming, heat transfer and
heat-treat applications.
Transient phase of the processes like rolling, machining, extrusion,
drawing cogging etc. also can be modeled in this general
framework.

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The five different types of simulations The five different types of simulations

ALE Rolling: Steady-State machining.

ALE model for rolling process can be generated using the Shape Rolling 3D machining model for turning applications can be generated using
template. the Machining Template in which the initial model can be set up for
When the model is generated using this template, automatically generates Lagrangian Incremental run.
the necessary boundary conditions for the entry surface for the billet
(indicated in the interface as the Beginning surface, nodes are assigned
BCCDEF=4), and the exit surface (indicated in the interface as Free surface,
nodes are assigned BCCDEF=5).

Template automatically sets the analysis type as ALE Rolling. When the
rolling model is setup using the regular pre-processor, user needs to set
this analysis type and proper boundary conditions to be able to run the
ALE model for rolling.

The five different types of simulations

Ring Rolling:
Postprocessing
Provided for future implementation: This capability is currently
under development.

Steady-State extrusion:

Provided for future implementation: (Current Eulerian process

modeling capability for extrusion, which is under development
can be activated using a special data file called ALE.DAT.

Postprocessing Postprocessing

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