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Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 480 485

11th International Conference on Technology of Plasticity, ICTP 2014, 19-24 October 2014,
Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya, Japan

Influence of anvil shape of surface crack generation

in large hot forging process
Takefumi Arikawaa,*, Daisuke Yamabeb, Hideki Kakimotoc
a

Research & Department Section, Technical Development Department, Steel Casting & Forging Division, KOBE STEEL, LTD., 2-3-1,
Shinhama, Arai-cho, Takasago-city, Hyogo, 676-8670, Japan
b
Turbo Machinery Engineering SectionRotating Machinery Engineering DepartmentCompressor Division, KOBE STEEL, LTD., 2-3-1,
Shinhama, Arai-cho, Takasago-city, Hyogo, 676-8670, Japan
c
Mechanical Working Research Section Material Research Laboratory, KOBE STEEL, LTD., 1-5-5, Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku,Kobe, Hyogo, 6512271, Japan

Abstract
In hot free forging process of large products, surface cracks occur occasionally. When these cracks occur, they must be
removed by hot scarfingprocess after stopping forging process temporarily. Final products have no cracks on those surfaces
after applying the hot scarfing process. Hot scarfing process, however, cuts into productivity due to additional time consuming.
Since surface cracks are regarded as significant defects, suppression of the surface crack generation is important issue. A lot of
research has been studied about mechanism and criteria of forging crack generation [1]~[8]. In hot forging process, however,
there are a few researches [9]~[14]. Then the mechanism and criteria of crack generationduring the hot forging process are not
clear at this moment. There are various factors for crack generation, such as reduction ratio, forging temperature, anvil shape,
ingot surfaceintegrity and so on. The goal of this research is to clarify the mechanism of crack generation in actual forging
processes. The derived mechanism is applied to design anvil shapes by using numerical forging simulation.
2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection
University
and Toyohashi
University
of Technology.
Selection and
and peer-review
peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility of
of Nagoya
the Department
of Materials
Science
and Engineering,
Nagoya University
Keywords: Hot forging; Foging defect; Surface crack; Surface defect; Anvil shape

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-79-445-7131; fax: +81-79-445-7244.

E-mail address: arikawa.takefumi@kobelco.com

1877-7058 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nagoya University
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.10.026

Takefumi Arikawa et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 480 485

1. Introduction
In hot free forging process of large products, surface cracks occur occasionally. When these cracks occur, they
must be removed by hot scarfingprocess after stopping forging process temporarily. Final products have no cracks
on those surfaces after applying the hot scarfing process. Hot scarfing process, however, cuts into productivity due
to additional time consuming. Since surface cracks are regarded as significant defects, suppression of the surface
crack generation is important issue. The mechanism and criteria of crack generationduring the hot forging process
are not clear at this moment. There are various factors for crack generation, such as reduction ratio, forging
temperature, anvil shape, ingot surfaceintegrity and so on. The goal of this research is to clarify the mechanism
of crack generation in actual forging processes. The derived mechanism is applied to design anvil shapes by using
numerical forging simulation.
2. Investigation ofactual forging process
The target actual forging process is the cogging processwhich forms a round bar from a steel ingot. One of the
mechanism hypotheses of surface cracks generationis illustrated in Fig. 1. In the cogging process, minor defect
was generated on the surface that has been forged. It was observed to occur at anvil lap part during cogging
process. When tensile stress is applied to minor defect during forging operation, it is expected that a crack will be
generated from the minor defect which is regarded as a stress concentration point. It is important to prevent minor
defect generation on the surface.

Fig. 1. Mechanism hypotheses of surface crack generation.

Anvil lap part

Fig. 2. Illustration of minor defect generation in cogging process.

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3. Validation of mechanism hypotheses of surface crack generation

3.1. Confirmation of minor defect generation in cogging process
In order to confirm minor defect generation in cogging process, small size cogging test was conducted. The
examination process was shown in Fig. 3. Cross section shape of the billet was square. The billet was heated upto
1250 C and was kept 1hr. After that it was cooled down to about 800 C. 800 C was the temperature that was
observed a lot of surface defects in actual cogging process. Then, the billet was forged 23% reduction ratio. The
billet was cut at the center of the longitudinal cross-section after the cogging test.
Table1. Chemical composition of test material (SF60) (wt%).
C

Si

Mn

Cr

0.45

0.25

0.80

0.15

Anvil
Width =30mm
Edge radius= R2.5

100mm
90mm

90mm

Heating
(Temparature 1250)

Test billet

Forging
(Reduction ratio:23%)

Fig. 3. Examination process.

The cross-sectional shape and metal flow of billet obtained from the experiment are shown in Fig. 4. It shows
minor defect was occurred at anvil lap part. Since minor defect area had metal flow, it was suggested the
possibility of preventing minor defect generation by metal flow control.
(a)

(b)

Minor defect

1mm

(c)

2000

Fig. 4.DForged billet, (b) cross-sectional shape and (c) metal flow of billet obtained from experiment.

In order to confirm deformation behavior of forged surface, simulation is applied to the cogging process using
FE analysis (FORGETR). The cross-sectional shape of billet obtained from FE analysis under the same conditions
with the experiment of Fig. 4 are illustrated in Fig. 5. The calculated result is good agreement with experiment one.
The deforming behavior of forged surface obtained from FE analysis is shown in Fig. 6. It shows that the minor
defect was formed at anvil lap part by material flow with stroke during forging.

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(b)

(a)

Minor defect

Fig. 5. (a) Forged billet and (b) cross-sectional shape of billet obtained from FE analysis.
Anvil lap part

(a)

(b)

Anvil

(c)

Minor defect

Forged area

Billet
Fig. 6. Deforming behavior of forged surface obtained from FE analysis: (a) stroke=0 mm; (b) stroke=15 mm;(c) stroke=30 mm.

3.2. Confirmation mechanism of surface crack generation

In order to confirm the mechanism of surface crack generation, simulation is applied to the cogging process
using FE analysis (FORGE). Fig. 7(a) shows analysis model. Cross section shape of billet model is octagon which
is the shape of actual cogging process. Initial temperature distribution of billet model is shown in Fig. 7 (b). The
anvil stroke was 150mm and the feed per pass was 600mm during cogging simulation, where pass means one times
anvil stroke. Deformation resistance was acquired by high temperature tensile tests. Friction model is based on
Coulomb model and friction coefficient is assumed to be 0.15. Possibility of surface crack generation was
evaluated by Cockcroft and Latham ductile fracture evaluation parameter (C-value) [16]. C-value is given by
C

Hf

V max .
dH

V
eq

(1)

where max is the maximum principle stress, eq is the equivalent stress andf is the equivalent strain.
The C-value contours during cogging process obtained from FE analysis is shown in Fig. 8. Maximum C-value
is generated at minor defect parts. It shows crack generation is easy to occur at minor defect part. The result was
suggested suppression of minor defect leads to prevent surface crack generation.
(a)

Anvil

(b)

1000

750

Billet
500

Fig. 7. Analysis model: (a) illustration of billet model and anvil model; (b) initial temperature distribution.

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Takefumi Arikawa et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 480 485

0.4

0.2

0.0
Fig. 8. C-value contours during cogging process obtained from FE analysis.

4. Influence of anvil shape on minor defect generation

It is considered that suppression of minor defect is effective for preventing surface crackgeneration. Since the
minor defect was formed by material flow during forging, material flow control at anvil lap part is required in
order to suppress it. The anvil shape, especially the edge radius, is important to control material flow at anvil lap
part. In order to investigate influence of the edge radius on minor defect, simulation was applied to the cogging
process using FE analysis (FORGE). The analysis condition except reduction and anvil shape was the same as the
calculation Fig. 9. Reduction and anvil shape condition is shown in Table3. Reduction means stroke of the anvil
during forging.
Relation between reduction and minor defect depth obtained from FE analysis is shown in Fig. 10. The minor
defect depth is increased with increase of reduction. When the reduction is 150 mm, on the other hand, the minor
defect depth is reduced with increase of edge radius. Since the edge part shape of forged surface come close to flat
with increase of edge radius, the minor defect depth was reduced. In order to organize, therefore, the relation
between the edge part shape on forged surface and minor defect depth, aspect ratio was defined. The definition of
the aspect ratio illustrated in Fig. 10(a). The aspect ratio is the parameter that the edge part shape was regarded as
quantitative value. Relation between the aspect ratio and minor defect depth obtained from FE analysis is shown in
Fig. 10(b). The minor defect depth is increased with increase of aspect ratio. In order to minimize surface crack
generation, the anvil edge shape which can minimize aspect ratio is effective.
Table3. Reduction and edge radius of the anvil.
The edge radius of the anvil [mm]

Stroke of the anvil [mm]

100

150, 200, 300

160

150, 320, 400

200

150, 300

300

150, 150

Minor defect depth

Minor defect depth /mm

25
20
15

R100
10

R160
R200

R300

0
0

50

100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Reduction /mm
Fig. 9. (a) Definition of minor defect depth and (b) relationship between reduction and minor defect depth.

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Takefumi Arikawa et al. / Procedia Engineering 81 (2014) 480 485

Anvil
Height direction

h
a
Billet

Minor defect depth /mm

25
20
15
10
5
0

Aspect ratio =h/a

Axial direction

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Aspect ratio

Fig. 10. (a) Definition of aspect ratioand (b) relationship between aspect ratio and minor defect depth.

6. Conclusion
Possibility of surface crack generation in cogging process was evaluated by Cockcroft and Latham ductile
fracture evaluation parameter (C-value) obtained from FE analysis. Maximum C-value is generated at minor defect
parts. The result shows crack generation is easy to occur at minor defect part and it was suggested suppression of
minor defect leads to prevent surface crack generation. As a result of investigation minor defect generation in
cogging process, it was generated at anvil lap part of forged surface. In addition, it was found the minor defect
depth correlate with the edge shape of anvil. In order to minimize surface crack generation, the anvil edge shape
which can minimize aspect ratio is effective.
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