The QFORM software is an ideal vehicle for the simulation of non-steady hot, cold and warm volumetric material forming processes. In doing so, the material can be both in a compact and porous state (metallic powders).

QFORM makes it possible to simulate die forging (open and closed), free forging, pressing, bending, and electric upsetting. In addition, the software simulates the intermediate operations and processes, which are natural part of the process chain, e. g. cooling the workpiece in the air and tool, hole punching and flash trimming, tilting the workpiece and its positioning by gravity.

QFORM makes possible the most complete use of the benefits of hot die forging, such as high productivity, obtaining intricate parts with minor tolerances and high product quality. The software allows the simulation of material flow in composite dies and prediction of feasible defects (voids, laps, and flow-through flaws). You can simulate the temperature, deformation and stress distribution in the workpiece and tool as well as the shape of the fibers in the forging, which is of utmost importance for quality control. The forging force and energy consumption analysis makes possible the selection of the most suitable equipment. With such a sophisticated design tool as QFORM, a process engineer can optimize the process to avoid defects, cut the material consumption and enhance the productivity without costly sample forgings.

Cold forging produces items with high accuracy, obtaining the surface quality, which does not require any extra machining. This causes some restrictions related to higher forming forces and tools durability. The use of QFORM makes it possible to optimize material flow, reducing the force and utilizing the plasticity resource completely. Unique is the possibility to design composite tools implemented in QFORM, making it possible to optimize composite pre-stressed dies with hard-alloy inserts and tire rings.

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QFORM makes possible efficient simulation of the powder compaction both in the free-fill state and the forging of porous pre-compacted or baked workpieces. The software uses the model of a plastically compressible medium with the elliptical flow criterion, which is transformed into the common Mises energy plasticity criterion, the porosity dropping to zero.
From the user’s point of view, the powder material forging simulation is little different from the compact material forging. You have to select the option ‘compressible’ for your material and specify its initial relative density. The other operations for the initial data setting will be the same as for a compact material. The software can be used both for the calculation of the preliminary compaction of filled powder in containers and the deformation of pre-compacted porous workpieces in closed dies of a complex configuration. QFORM offers the analysis of the residual porosity in a product and that of the stress, deformation and temperature fields in it and allows for the process parameters optimization.

To forge half-axle type components or valves with a large ratio between the flange and main rod diameters, you need a considerable material buildup on the end of the workpiece. Using electrical upsetting, the required amount of the material can be built up within one forging cycle. Electrical upsetting is an extremely complicated process, where the heating occurs as the electric current passes through, while the deformation and eventually the shape of the product are determined by the distribution of the temperature reached as a result of nonuniform heating. QFORM is the world’s only software capable of simulating this process.