Challenges and opportunities in the incremental cold

forming of transmissions components

Michael Ward, Technical Director - AFRC

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AFRC – who are we?

The AFRC is part of the UK High Value

Manufacturing Catapult. Established with
support from UK government and Scottish
Enterprise, AFRC’s key research focus is the
manufacture of high integrity parts through
metal deformation processes.

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Blacksmithing – ancient technology?

Discovery of materials Emerging physics of deformation Theory of plasticity, new materials

Muscle and water power Mechanisation and specialisation Mass production
Weapons and jewellery Industrial products and armaments Total war and cold war eras

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Some more recent developments
• Predictive capability • Micro forming and forging

• Servo motor press technology • Net shape cold processing

… major implementation challenges remain

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 5

Incremental processes for net shape cold

forming – rotary forging

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Incremental processes for net shape cold
forming – shear / flow forming

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Incremental processes for net shape cold
forming – radial forging

Martin Auer, GFM GmbH, Radial forging – amongst the foremost forming
technologies, International Cold Forming Congress, Glasgow, 2015

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 Incremental processing – key advantages

Force and power are a

fraction of that for
conventional forging

Reduced noise
Small
Reduced vibration
workpiece
on upper
Uniform quality
die contact
area
Smooth surface finish

Improved properties

Close to size forging

Source: L. Hua, X. Han / Materials and Design 30 (2009) 2133–2142

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 Incremental processes – for 3D geometry

Source: Investigation of the cold orbital forging

Source: Numerical and experimental investigation of cold rotary process of an AlMgSi alloy bevel gear; Journal
forging of a 20CrMnTi alloy spur bevel gear; Materials & Design, of Materials Processing Technology, Volume
Volume 32, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 1376-1389; Xiaobin 213, Issue 10, October 2013, Pages 1692-
Deng, Lin Hua, Xinghui Han, Yanli Song 1702; Grzegorz Samołyk

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 Some complications….
Slowly developing
process – lots of
simulation steps
Tool / workpiece
interaction is
complex and now
Resulting well understood
material has
localised
microstructure
and texture
Locked-in residual
stress needs to be
characterised for
Complex evolving
component lifing
material behaviour –
and to avoid
repeated loading
downstream
and unloading
distortion

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 The AFRC approach
Slowly developing
process – lots of
simulation steps
Tool / workpiece
interaction is
complex and now
Resulting well understood
material has
localised
microstructure
and texture
Locked-in residual
stress needs to be
characterised for
Complex evolving
component lifing
material behaviour –
and to avoid
repeated loading
downstream
and unloading
distortion

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©2015 AFRC
Summary - Incremental cold forging –
challenges and benefits
Challenges
• Complex process mechanics
• Localised microstructure and texture
• Locked-in energy
• More difficult to simulate than conventional forging
• Less well understood and developed
• Validation for high integrity applications

Benefits
• Shorter cycle times
• Better mechanical properties from the superior working of the material
• High material utilization
• Very cost effective tooling
• Applicable to powder and bulk material

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