Finite element simulation on press forging of magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets

ZHANG Shi-hong()1, SUN Cheng( )1, WANG Zhong-tang()2

1. Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China;
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang 110168, China
Received 12 June 2008; accepted 5 September 2008

Abstract: Press forging of rectangular box of magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets was investigated at elevated temperatures. The
characteristics of metal flow were analyzed on the basis of finite element method(FEM) and experiments. Effects of friction factor
and sidewall thickness on metal flow and boss forming were investigated by FEM. The results indicate that the bosses and the
sidewall of the rectangular box are formed unevenly due to the uneven flow of the metal. The increase in friction factor at die/sheet
interface improves the metal flow pattern and the efficiency of boss forming, but reduces the sidewall uniformity. Decrease in
sidewall thickness enhances boss forming efficiency, whereas the punch load increases in this case. The present work can provide
reasonable parameters and design guideline for the practical press forging process of magnesium alloy sheets.

Key words: press forging; magnesium AZ31; metal flow; boss; finite element method

forging. CHEN et al[11] and MURAKAMI et al[12]

1 Introduction examined the flow-through defects in the press forging,
and suggested some methods for preventing
Magnesium alloys are increasingly becoming the flow-through defects. CHEN et al[1314] numerically
ideal materials for modern industrial products with the and experimentally studied the effect of punch shape and
characteristics of light mass, high specific strength and sheet thickness on the formation of embossments in laser
good resistance to electromagnetic interference. diodes press forging.
Currently, most of the 3C (computers, communications At present, many 3C components are rectangular
and consumers) components possess a geometric shape and contain both bosses and sidewall. In this work,
with bosses and ribs. Although die-casting method can therefore, metal flow behavior of press forging of
form these kinds of complicated shape components, the rectangular box with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets was
products contain many casting defects such as porosity, investigated by finite element software DEFORMTM 3D,
pin holes and low strength. Press forging of magnesium and experiments were conducted to validate the
alloy sheets has been considered as an alternative process simulation results. Effects of friction factor and sidewall
to manufacture these components, and has the thickness on metal flow and boss forming were
advantages of high production efficiency and surface discussed.
quality which can meet the requests of the 3C
components. 2 Finite element modeling and experiments
In recent years, finite element method(FEM) has
been used widely to deal with forging problems[18]. 2.1 Finite element modeling
Designers can analyze metal forming process and Fig.1 shows the FE model. There were four cavities
suggest measures to improve the quality of forged parts contained in the punch, and the shape of the cavities was
based on the finite element analysis. Some research cone. The diameter at the bottom, the diameter at the top
activities have been performed on press forging process and the height of the cavities were 3.5 mm, 2.5 mm, and
by using FEM. HWANG et al[910] numerically 5.0 mm, respectively. Due to the symmetry of the part,
analyzed variations of the temperature, punch force and 1/4 blank was used in the FE simulations. The present
plastic strain of magnesium-alloy sheets during press analyses adopt the following assumptions: 1) both of the

Corresponding author: ZHANG Shi-hong; Tel: +86-24-83978266; E-mail: shzhang@[Link]

s270 ZHANG Shi-hong, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 18(2008)
punch and die were rigid bodies, and the blank was a temperature tools for 30 s and then it was detected to
visco-plastic material; 2) frictions at tool/sheet interface approximately 300 [16]. Commercial solid lubricant
were simulated by friction shear model with a constant MoS2 was used in the experiments. The punch stroke
friction factor; 3) the forming process was isothermal was 1.2 mm, i.e. the bottom thickness of the press forged
and the temperatures of the tool and the sheet were 300 part was 0.8 mm.
. The stressstrain relationship of AZ31 magnesium
alloy from hot compression test was used in the FE 3 Results and discussion
simulation[15]. Other parameters used in the FE
simulation are listed in Table 1. 3.1 Forming process
Fig.3 shows the experimental results and the
Table 1 Simulation parameters of AZ31 alloy
forming process when the punch stroke reaches 0.6 mm,
Elastic
Density/(gcm3) Poisson ratio 0.9 mm and 1.2 mm. It is clearly seen that four bosses
modulus/GPa
44.8 1.78 0.35 and sidewall are formed synchronously, the maximal
sidewall height is located in the middle part of the long
Friction factor at
Friction factor at Punch speed/ sides of the rectangular box and the height of the corner
punch/sheet
die/sheet interface(2) (mms1) is minimal. Fig.3(b) also indicates that the top of the
interface(1)
0.2 0.2 1.0 bosses is formed unevenly, and the regions of the
cavities far away from the center are filled earlier than
those close to the center. Fig.4 shows the variation of
average height of boss (average value of maximal and
minimal height of the boss) during press forging obtained

Fig.1 Finite element model of AZ31 alloy

2.2 Experiments
Press forging experiments were carried out to verify
the results of FEM simulation results. Fig.2 shows the
tools for press forging. The AZ31 sheets were cut by
linear cutting machine into rectangle blanks with 20 mm
in width, 30 mm in length and 2.0 mm in thickness. The
Fig.3 Forming process (FEM) and experiment results: (a) Stroke
clearance between the punch and die was 0.8 mm, i.e.
0.6 mm; (b) Stroke 0.9 mm; (c) Stroke 1.2 mm; (d) Experiment
sidewall thickness of the press forged part was 0.8 mm.
The temperatures of the punch and the die were heated to
300350 by cartridge heaters, and then the blank at
room temperature was sandwiched between the high

Fig.4 Boss height comparison between FE and experimental

Fig.2 Press forging tools results
 ZHANG Shi-hong, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 18(2008) s271
from FE simulation and experiments. It is clearly seen
that FE results accord well with the experimental results
before the punch stroke reaches 0.9 mm, but the final
boss height in the experiment is 4.6 mm, which is less
than that predicted from the FE simulation (5 mm). The
reason is that there is no vent in the punch cavity and the
punch cavity is airtight during press forging, so the metal
cannot fill the cavity completely.

3.2 Effect of friction factor on forming uniformity of

boss and sidewall
To investigate the effects of friction on boss forming,
various values of friction factors (0.2, 0.4 and 0.7) were
assigned to both the punch-sheet interface(1) and die-
sheet interface(2) with the other process parameters
remaining the same. Fig.5 shows the effect of friction
factors on velocity field distribution when the punch
stroke reaches 0.6 mm. It is seen that when the friction
factor of tool/sheet interface is 0.2, as shown in Fig.5(a),
the boss is formed unevenly. This is caused by the fast
outward flow of metal. When the friction factor at
die/sheet interface increases, as shown in Fig.5(b), the
velocity difference of filling cavity is reduced and the
metal flow pattern of boss forming gets improved.
Fig.6(a) shows the effects of friction factor on average
height of the boss and the height difference of the
sidewall. In Fig.6(a), curves C and D indicate that the
increase in the friction factor can enhance the efficiency
Fig.6 Effects of friction factor on press forging by FE
simulation: (a) Effect on average height of boss; (b) Effect on
sidewall height difference

of boss formation, and curves A and B, B and D show

that die/sheet interface has much significant effect on
improving boss forming efficiency. Fig.6(b) indicates
that the height difference of the sidewall increases with
the increase of the friction factor and that the die/sheet
interface also shows more important influence on
sidewall height difference.

3.3 Effect of sidewall thickness on boss forming and

load
The effect of sidewall thickness(t) on boss forming
is shown in Fig.7(a). It can be seen that the decrease in
the thickness of the sidewall can enhance the efficiency
of boss formation.
The reason is that the decrease in sidewall thickness
increases the resistance of metal flow towards the
sidewall, and no much metal flows quickly outward to
form the sidewall, which makes the metal flow into the
cavities easier. Fig.7(b) shows variations of forming load
with different sidewall thickness, 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm and
Fig.5 Effect of friction factor on velocity field at punch stroke 1.0 mm. It is seen that the punch load increases with the
of 0.6 mm: (a) 1=0.2, 2=0.2; (b) 1=0.2, 2=0.7 decrease of the sidewall thickness.
s272 ZHANG Shi-hong, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 18(2008)

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(Edited by ZHAO Jun)
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