QFORM is a unique easy-to-use and efficient bulk forming simulation, analysis and optimization software. The software is meant for process engineers and die designers. Its users are empowered to get a high added value by reducing the process development time, excluding forming tests and saving the metal.

QFORM can be excellently integrated with any CAD systems, has an intuitive user-friendly interface and allows simulating the most intricate 3D metal deformation processes.

QFORM is the leader among the software packages in its class and enjoys well-deserved popularity both in production and for the training purposes.

Developing a metal pressure treatment technology, you have to know how to calculate the required forces, metal flow nature, stresses and deformations both in the forged part and in the dies correctly. The problem being non-linear, there is no way to find apparently easy analytical solutions. An intricate mathematic procedure is required, instead. The basis for the QFORM finite element software computation core is the metal pressure treatment process simulation using the flow theory. Prof. G.Ya. Gun and his associates have been developing this metal forming simulation approach at the Moscow Steel & Alloys Institute since the seventies. These works were developed further, when designing the computer simulation software for such processes as rolling, extrusion, and forging.

The fully automated mathematic simulation became available for manufacturing applications, when the first Russian commercial FORM-2D software designed for bulk forming finite element simulation was issued. The software was brought out by Quantor company, Moscow, in early 1991.

The following objectives were set and solved during the development of the software:

This was of special importance, because the foreign analogues at that time were exclusively oriented to costly UNIX workstations and inferred a high user qualification in the field of finite elements, since they required manual remeshing control.

FORM-2D operated under MS DOS and assured the computation of axial-symmetric and flat metal flow to satisfy totally the needs for the simulation of round forgings and simulation of the cross-sections of elongated forgings. The software also calculated tool stresses and deformations efficiently. FORM-2D carried some very essential innovative ideas, which predetermined the development in this field for the years to come.

First, high-order triangular finite elements were used. Their curved borders approximate the complex die and forged part contours far more accurately than linear elements with the same number of nods. In doing so, the complication of algorithms is compensated by a higher solution accuracy in comparison with the foreign analogues using linear elements.

Secondly, the main rule adopted was that under no circumstances should the user interfere with the solution process. The software should work as a ‘black box’, where the user enters the process parameters he can understand to receive the result immediately. To make this happen, efficient methods of finite element mesh generation were developed. The finite element mesh generator based on an adaptive concept plots the mesh using numerous parameters, which may affect the solution accuracy in every point (geometry shape, field gradients, proximity of forming tools and many others). This allowed generating element meshes with the dimensions distributed in the most efficient way, making them denser in the areas with high gradients or creating larger elements where the gradients are not high so that there would be no damage to the solution accuracy. It took high-speed algorithms to be able to generate a new mesh for every step over the time, distributing the computing resources in the most efficient way.

The first night of FORM-2D in the international environment took place during an independent test held at the International Metal Forming Process Simulation Conference in Baden-Baden, Germany, on September 28 thru 30, 1994. Unexpectedly for the other participants in the testing, FORM-2D landed among the best contestants both in terms of accuracy and speed. Notably, it was the only software, which could be used with PCs, rather than workstations. A convenient interface, reliable operation and high accuracy gained the users’ recognition fast and the software was taken up by many factories in Russia and abroad.

The next metal process computer simulation development stage was the development and production of the QFORM software by Quantor-Soft in 1998. It features a totally object-oriented and deeply integrated software intended to work in the Windows environment. Unlike the competitors’ packages, the changes did not boil down to drawing up an interface to match the existing core. The software was designed from scratch rewriting all the codes, which took about two years. It also took the whole experience and research results available by that time as well as the state-of-the-art programming techniques, which emerged with the propagation of Windows the world over. To make up for it, the result exceeded all expectations. Presented at the exhibition Forging International in Birmingham, UK, in May 1998 for the first time, QFORM provoked a great interest.

The system interface changed totally. It became interactive and graphic. The notions of the pre- and postprocessor per se disappeared, because the data preparation, computation and visualization are combined and simultaneous. The forged part and dies are shown as a realistic 3D graphics, the shape of the workpiece changing on the screen continuously, as the computation advances. The user can switch between the modes and display various fields and other results he is interested in, without interrupting the computation, if he needs to analyze the process before the simulation is complete.

It was for the first time in world practice that the user was enabled to simulate the whole forging impression sequence as a single process chain, including the intermediate cooling or heating operations. Changing one or several data, the user can have the whole chain computed again to create new process options within a single engineering project easily.

The computation model was developed further. The development of the finite element core allowed simulating lap formation efficiently, when a free surface comes in contact with itself, and track the case history of these flaws over the subsequent forging impressions, until the product is finished.

Gaining the experience and improving the algorithms created prerequisites to the development of a 3D metal forming process software. This was also supported by an increasing popularity of the FORM-2D and QFORM software packages, making it possible to involve development teams from various countries in order to join the efforts for such a complex project. It was due to the efforts of the international consortium that the QFORM3D software was brought out. From the Russian side the development was carried out since 2002 by the QuantorForm company, which is now distributing the software on the territory of the CIS.

Developing the 3D software it was essential to ensure an easy application, the possibility of preparing all data for the computation within a few minutes, the pursuance of the computation from the beginning to the end in an absolutely automatic mode without any user intervention and the achievement of a guaranteed accurate result, even if the user had no special knowledge in the field of the finite element simulation theory.

To achieve these goals, a few absolutely new solutions were developed and applied. Here are the key concepts:

QFORM3D combines 2D and 3D simulation in a single software. It gives the user an enormous advantage. The software maintained completely its broadest functionality and the easy and habitual interface of its 2D predecessor. The only thing required in order to convert to 3D simulation is to select solid body models for the dies and the workpiece, rather than 2D cross-sectional contours as the initial geometry data. All other data are specified in the same fashion as for the 2D computation, using a convenient and vivid Data Preparation Wizard to minimize the probability of casual errors.

The integration of 2D and 3D simulation in the same software package provides a unique opportunity to simulate efficiently the process chains comprising several forging impressions, the first of which have axial symmetry and can be solved fast in a 2D setting (e. g. upsetting and preliminary impressions and the subsequent ones require full-scale 3D simulation. The object-oriented software structure creates a very comfortable and fully integrated user environment. The data preparation goes hand in hand with their display for visual monitoring and the computation is accompanied by the simultaneous graphic display of the results. Thus the ‘computer experiment’ replaces a true experiment, saving the labor and time the debugging of the tooling technology would have taken.

The effective geometry data import is provided with a reliable interface, which includes all solid body simulation systems. The software supports the import of IGES and STEP files to avoid a loss of accuracy in comparison with the case, when data are used in the STL format. In addition, it features a direct interface to SolidWorks (SolidWorks Corp.), speeding up the operation considerably. Surface models of the dies created by PowerShape (Delcam Plc) also can be effectively imported to QForm by means of specially developed facilities.

Using the full and accurate die and workpiece geometry as the initial data and also having the expertise of non-linear approximation for the solution of 2D problems, QFORM3D was the first commercial software to use quadratic finite element approximation in order to solve 3D problems. This allowed a considerable increase in the solution accuracy, a reduction in the loss of volume and a high solution reliability and certainty in the forging flaws prediction. The description of surfaces by the non-linear finite element model allows remeshing as often as needed, without ‘shouldering’ the surface at tight curves, which is characteristic of linear elements.

The software generates a finite element mesh on the die and workpiece surface and inside automatically, restructuring it in the solution process, as required. Since non-linear approximation is the basis, the most intricate and sophisticated fully automatic adaptive mesh generation algorithms can be used. The mesh is made denser at the locations with the highest surface curvature and high solution gradients and is maximally rarefied at the locations, where there is no extensive material flow (rigid areas) to allow for the saving of computation resources. Eventually, the automatically generated mesh guarantees a high solution quality and its accuracy regardless of the user qualification in the field of finite elements.

Currently, QFORM3D features one of the most sophisticated and dynamically developing program packages for the simulation of 3D metal forming processes.

Comparing to version QForm 4.1 (2006) we managed:

The simulation speed was improved by: :

The new program QShape created to import initial geometry is also the component of QForm. It provides:

Import of any files in STEP format

Advanced features:

New performance and versatile features

New QForm 5.0 is a versatile simulation tool. It simulates nearly all bulk metal forming processes and some
related processes like heating and heat treatment.
A unique user-friendly interface excludes the need for special training so that the program provides a quick return of investment.

1. New licensing policy: the program performance and capabilities can be tuned on demand individually for every user
according to his needs.

2. No limits for complexity of simulation job – full 64-bit application running in parallel on up to 8 CPUs

3. Special module QForm-Extrusion provides unique performance for simulation of aluminum profiles of the most
complicated shapes.

4. Module QForm-MS provides simulation of recrystallisation and grain growth during deformation and during the pauses
between forming operations.

5. The program was extended to allow simulation of the following processes where the tools and/or the billet are intensively rotating:

• Ring rolling
• Railroad wheel rolling
• Cross-wedge rolling
• Transversal rolling and helical rolling of tubes

6. New extended facilities for setting special boundary conditions and/or mesh size to any area of the billet or tool surface

7. Simulation of induction heating .