Low-Waste Technology for High-Precision Connecting Rod Forging Manufacturing.

Area of Science:

• Manufacturing Engineering
• Materials Science
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Traditional hot die forging processes often involve material waste and high energy consumption.
• Optimizing forging technology is crucial for sustainable manufacturing and cost reduction.
• Numerical modeling offers a powerful tool for simulating and improving manufacturing processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a low-waste hot die forging technology for connecting rod production.
• To minimize material usage and forging forces, thereby reducing energy consumption.
• To leverage numerical modeling for the design and verification of new forging tools and processes.

Main Methods:

• Verification of existing hot die forging technology.
• Development of a numerical model using Forge 3.0 NxT software.
• Design of new forging tools incorporating an additional pre-roughing pass (0X).
• Simulation of the three-stage forging process (0X, 1X, 2X) to analyze material flow, temperature distribution, forces, and energy consumption.
• Industrial validation of the developed technology.

Main Results:

• The new three-stage forging process (including the pre-roughing pass) effectively distributed forces and relieved stress on subsequent passes.
• Introduction of the pre-roughing pass led to reduced charge material requirements.
• The optimized forging technology resulted in a 10% decrease in process energy consumption.
• Numerical modeling accurately predicted process outcomes, validating its use for virtual process verification.

Conclusions:

• The developed low-waste hot die forging technology, verified through numerical modeling and industrial trials, significantly reduces material and energy consumption.
• The integration of a pre-roughing pass in forging tool design is effective in optimizing the process.
• Finite Element (FE) modeling is a valuable tool for virtual validation and optimization of manufacturing processes, applicable to various industrial applications for enhanced efficiency and sustainability.