Cold Forgeability

,*2~\:-
Commission of the European Communities
technical steel research
Properties and service performance
Cold forgeability
Commission of the European Communities
technical steel research
Properties and service performance
Cold forgeability
R.F. Dewsnap
BSC London
Contract No 6210-KC/8/802
(1.4.1975 - 30.9.1978
FINAL REPORT
Published by the Directorate-General

Information Market and Innovation
1982 EUR 7617 EN

Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Information Market and Innovation
Btiment J ean Monnet
LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither th e Commission of th e European Communities nor any person acting
on beh alf of th e Commission is responsible for th e use wh ich migh t be made of
the following information
IECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels Luxembourg

EUR 7617 EN 6210 .KC.8/802
SUMMARY
Cold forging is a high productivity operation placing

stringent demands on material requirements. In view of the in-
creasing complexity of cold forged shapes the principal require-
ments are that the material should possess adequate flow
properties at high levels of strain accompanied by the ability
to sustain a high level of deformation without cracking. A
further requirement is that the material should have a low
resistance to deformation, thus reducing press loads, hence
minimising plant capacity requirements and tool wear.
Steels for cold forging applications cover a diverse range

of compositions from low carbon unalloyed to medium carbon and
alloyed grades having hot rolled microstructures from ferrite-
pearlite to martensite. While the low carbon unalloyed steels
may be suitable for cold forging with a minimum of pre-conditio-
ning the carbon and alloy grades require some form of heat
treatment, generally of the spheroidisation anneal type. The
softening behaviour of a range of steels has been examined and
the response of various microstructural types from ferrite-
pearlite to ferrite-spheroidised carbide has been studied in the
two principal forging modes, unsupported backward extrusion
(penetration testing) and injection upsetting. Of the two tests
injection upsetting gives the more reproducible results due to
the difficulty of detecting internal cracks in the penetration
test.. Low carbon steels gave the better performance in both
tests, non-metallic inclusions being the dominant controlling
factor.
These steels also show relative insensitivity to surface

defects. In contrast the higher carbon steels were less fortnable
being dependent principally on carbide volume fraction and
showing marked sensitivity to surface defects. Useful correla-
tions have been established between tensile ductility properties
and performance in the two cold forgeability tests.
6210.KC.8/802
CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. MECHANICAL TESTING AND QUANTITATIVE 1
METALLOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES
2.1 Tensile Tests 1
2.2 Metallography 1
2.3 Cold Forgeability Tests 2
2.3.1 Injection Upset Test 2
2.3.2 Penetration Test 3
2.3.3 Details of Testing Conditions 3
3. MATERIALS 4
3.1 Steel Composition 4
3.2 Heat Treatments and Microstructures 4
3.2.1 Steel 1 (0.1/o C) 5
3.2.2 Steel 2 (0.2% C) 6
3.2.3 Steel 3 (0.4% C) 6
3.2.4 Steels 4 and 6 (0.l8% C - 0.8% Cr; 7

0.l6% C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
3.2.5 Steels 5 and 7 (0.35% C - 1% Cr; 7
O.035/o C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
3.2.6 Response of Steels 4-7 to Quench 7
and Temper Treatments
4. RESULTS 8
4.1 Tensile Properties 8
4.2 Cold Forgeability Tests 8
4.2.1 Injection Upset Test 8
4.2.2 Penetration Test 10
4.2.3 Forming Loads 12
4.2.4 Surface Strain Measurements 12
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Page
5. DISCUSSION 13
5.1 Heat Treatments I5
5.2 Tensile Properties l6
53 Cold Forgeability Assessment 17
5.4 Forming Loads 20

5.5 Surface Strains in Forging 21
6. CONCLUSION - 22
7. REFERENCES 23
TABLES 1-10
FIGS. I-30
IV
6210.KC.8/802
LIST OF TABLES
1. Analyses of Experimental Steels
2. Softening Heat Treatments Used for Low and Medium Carbon

Steels Prior to Cold Forging
3. Details of Heat Treatments Used
4. General Microstructural Data
5. Inclusion Characterisation
6. Hardness Values for Quenched and Tempered Samples
7. Tensile Properties
8. Results of Injection Upset Tests
9 Results of Penetration Tests
10. Surface Strain Measurements

6210.KC.8/802
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Tooling arrangement for injection upset test.
2. Macro-etched cross-section of an injection upset specimen

of Steel 7/4.
3. Tooling arrangement for the penetration test.
4. Macro-etched sections of penetration test specimens at

high and low punch stroke.
5 Microstrvictures of Steel 1.
6. Microstructures of Steel 2.
11. Microstructures of Steel 7
12. The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

% pearlite for heat treatments giving lamellar and
spheroidised pearlite.
13 The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

volume fraction of carbide in quenched and tempered
specimens.
l4. The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

mean stroke at cracking for ungrooved specimens in the
in j e c t i on up set test.
15 The relationships between stroke at cracking for un-

grooved specimens in the injection upset test and the
calculated volume fraction of carbides for spheroidised
steels.
l6. The results for punch stroke at cracking plotted against

groove depth for the injection upset test.
17 The relationship between maximum uniform strain in the

tensile test and mean stroke at cracking in the injection
upset test for grooved specimens.
18. The relationship between yield strength and mean stroke

at cracking in the injection upsetting test for grooved
specimens.
19. Pimeli stroke at cracking as a function of hardness for

grooved and ungrooved quenched and tempered specimens in
the injection upset test.
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6210.KC.8/802
20. The relationship between mean stroke at cracking and
maximum uniform strain in the ungrooved penetration test.
21. Results for punch stroke at cracking in the penetration

test plotted against groove depth.
22. The relationship between mean stroke at cracking and

maximum uniform strain in the grooved penetration test.
23 Punch stroke at cracking as a function of hardness for

grooved and ungrooved quenched and tempered specimens in
the penetration test.
24. The relationship between the yield load in the cold

forging tests and yield stress in uniaxial tension.
25. The strain distribution in the formed flange of ungrooved

injection upset specimens of Steels 1/12 and 7/4.
26. The relationship between stroke and observed surface

strains at the potential failure site.
27. Detailed strain paths for various positions on the flange

of injection upset specimens of Steels 1/12 and 7/4.
28. Strain paths for injection upset and penetration tests at

the potential failure site.
29 The relationship between stroke at failure in the un-

grooved injection upset test and carbon content.
30. The relationship between stroke at fai. lure in the un-

grooved injection upset test and the projected length
of non-metallic inclusions for the lower carbon Steels
1, 2, 4 and 6.
31. Summary of the relationship between groove depth and mean

punch stroke at failure in the injection upset test
showing the effect of composition.
vm
RESUME
Le forgeage froid est une opration a haute productivit, fort

exigeante sur le plan des impratifs 'matriaux'. Compte tenu de la complexit
croissante des structures forges froid, le principal impratif c'est
que le matriau possde des proprits d'coulement suffisantes, de hauts
niveaux de dformation, en mme temps que l'aptitude supporter un haut
niveau de dformation sans apparition de fissures. Un autre impratif, c'est
que le matriau prsente une faible rsistance la dformation, rduisant
ainsi la charge de la presse, ce qui rduit les exigences de capacit de
l'installation ainsi que l'usure de l'outil.
Les aciers destins aux applications du forgeage froid couvrent

toute une gamme de compositions, allant des aciers non allis faible teneur
en carbone, aux aciers allis teneur moyenne en carbone, et prsentant des
microstructures du laminage chaud allant de la ferrite-perlite la martensite.
Alors que les aciers non allis faible teneur en carbone se prtent
un forgeage froid avec un minimum de prconditionnement, les aciers de
nuance au carbone et allis requirent une certaine forme de traitement
thermique, gnralement du type 'recuit sphroidisation'. On a examin le
comportement l'adoucissement de toute une srie d'aciers, et la rponse
de diffrents types microstructuraux, allant de la ferrite-perlite la
ferrite avec des carbures spheroidiss, a t tudie dans les deux principaux
modes de forgeage, rtro-extrusion non assiste (test de pntration) et
refoulement par injection. Sur les deux tests en question, le refoulement
par injection assure les rsultats les plus reproductibles, tant donn la
difficult dtecter les fissures internes dans le test de pntration.
Les aciers faible teneur en carbone assurent les meilleures performances
dans les deux tests, les inclusions non mtalliques constituant le facteur
principal de contrle.
Ces aciers montrent galement une relative insensibilit aux dfauts

de surface. Par contraste, les aciers forte teneur en carbone ont
t d'un formage moins facile, ce dernier dpendant principalement de la
fraction volumique de carbure, et montrent une sensibilit importante
vis--vis des dfauts de surface. D'utiles corrlations ont t tablies,
dans les deux tests de forgeabilit froid, entre les proprits de ductilit
en traction et les performances.
IX
6210.KC.8/802
TABLE DES MATIERES Page
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. ESSAIS MECANIQUES ET TECHNIQUES 1

METALLOGRAPHIQUES QUANTITATIVES
2.1 Essais de traction 1
2.2 Metallographie 1
2.3 Essais de forgeage froid 2
2.3.1 Essai de refoulement par injection 2

2.3.2 Essai de pntration 3
2.3.3 Dtails des conditions d'essai 3
3. MATERIAUX 4
3.1 Composition de l'acier 4
3.2 Traitements thermiques et microstructures 4
3.2.1 Acier 1 (0,1 % C) 5

3.2.2 Acier 2 (0,2 % C) 6
3.2.3 Acier 3 (0,4 % C) 6
3.2.4 Aciers 4 et 6 (0,18 % C - 0,8 % Cr ; 7
0,16 % C - Ni-Cr-Mo)
3.2.5 Aciers 5 et 7 (0,35 % C - 1% Cr; 7
0,035% C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
3.2.6 Raction des aciers 4-7 aux traitements 7
de trempe et revenu
4. RESULTATS 8
4.1 Proprits de traction 8
4.2 Essais de forgeabilit froid 8
4.2.1 Essai de refoulement par injection 8

4.2.2 Essai de pntration 10
4.2.3 Charges de formage 12
4.2.4 Mesures de dformation de surface 12
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6210.KC.8/802
Page
5. COMMENTAIRE 13
5.1 Traitements thermiques 15
5.2 Proprits de traction 16
5.3 Evaluation de la forgeabilit froid 17
5.4 Charges de formage 20
5.5 Dformations de surface en cours de formage 21
6. CONCLUSION 22
7. REFERENCES 23
TABLEAUX 1-10
FIGURES 1-30
Xll
6210.KC.8/802
LISTE DES TABLEAUX
1. Analyses des aciers exprimentaux
2. Traitements thermiques d'adoucissement utiliss pour les aciers de

faible moyenne teneur en carbone, avant le forgeage froid
3. Dtails des traitements thermiques utiliss
4. Donnes gnrales de microstructures
5. Caractrisation des inclusions
6. Valeurs de duret pour les chantillons soumis la trempe et au revenu
7. Proprits de traction
8. Rsultats des essais de refoulement par injection
9. Rsultats des essais de pntration
10. Mesures des dformations de surface
xm
6210.KC.8/802
LISTE DES FIGURES
1. Disposition des outils pour l'essai de refoulement par injection.
2. Sections d'attaque grossire d'un spcimen d'acier 7/4 soumis au

refoulement par injection.
3. Disposition des outils pour l'essai de pntration.
4. Sections d'attaque grossire de spcimens d'essai de pntration

une course de poinonnage leve ou basse.
5. Microstructures de l'acier 1.
12. La relation entre la rduction de surface par traction et.le pourcentage de

perlite pour les traitements thermiques donnant de la perlite sphroidise.
13. La relation entre la rduction de surface par traction et la fraction

volumique de carbure dans les spcimens tremps et durcis.
14. La relation entre la rduction de surface par traction et la course moyenne

la fissuration pour des spcimens non entaills dans l'essai de
refoulement par injection.
15. La relation entre la course au point de fissuration pour des spcimens non
entaills dans l'essai de refoulement par injection, et la fraction
volumique calcule des carbures pour les aciers sphroidiss.
16. Les rsultats de la course de poinonnage au point de fissuration donns

par rapport la profondeur d'entaille pour l'essai de refoulement par
injection.
17. La relation entre la dformation maximum uniforme dans l'essai de traction

et la course moyenne au point de fissuration dans l'essai de refoulement
par injection, pour les spcimens entaills.
18. La relation entre la rsistance la rupture et la course moyenne au point

de fissuration dans l'essai de refoulement par injection, pour les
spcimens entaills.
19. La course de poinonnage au point de fissuration, comme fonction de duret

pour les spcimens tremps et durcis, entaills et non entaills, dans
l'essai de refoulement par injection.
xv
6210.KC.8/802
20. La relation entre la course moyenne au point de fissuration et la

dformation uniforme maximum dans l'essai de pntration sur spcimens
non entaills.
21. Rsultats pour la course de poinonnage au point de fissuration dans

l'essai de pntration, donns par rapport la profondeur d'entaille.
22. La relation entre la course moyenne au point de fissuration et la

dformation maximum uniforme dans l'essai de pntration sur spcimens
entaills.
%
23. La course de poinonnage au point de fissuration, comme fonction de duret
pour les spcimens tremps et durcis, entaills et non entaills, dans
l'essai de pntration.
24. La relation entre la charge de rupture dans les essais de forgeage froid
et la rsistance la rupture en traction uniaxiale.
25. La rpartition de la dformation dans la bride forme de spcimens non

entaills refouls par injection, d'aciers 1/12 et 7/4.
26. La relation entre la course et les dformations superficielles observes

l'endroit potentiel de rupture.
27. Les chemins dtaills de dformation pour diverses positions sur la bride
des spcimens d'aciers 1/12 et 7/4 refouls par injection.
28. Chemins de dformation pour les essais de refoulement par injection et les
essais de pntration l'endroit potentiel de rupture.
29. La relation entre la course la rupture dans l'essai d'un spcimen non
entaill refoul par injection, et la teneur en carbone.
30. La relation entre la course la rupture dans l'essai de refoulement par

injection de spcimens non entaills, et la longueur prvue des inclusions
non mtalliques pour les aciers plus faible teneur en carbone, 1, 2, 4 et 6.
31. Rsum de la relation entre la profondeur de l'entaille et la course moyenne

de poinonnage la rupture dans l'essai de refoulement par injection,
montrant l'effet de la composition.
xvi
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Kaltschmieden ist eine hochproduktives Verfahren, das hohe Anforde

rungen an das Material stellt. In Anbetracht der zunehmenden Komplexitt
von kaltgeschmiedeten Teilen ist hauptschlich notwendig, dass das Material
bei hoher Beanspruchung geeignete Fliesseigenschaften sowie die Fhigkeit
aufweist, ein hohes Mass an Verformung ohne Rissbildung auszuhalten. Eine
weitere Auflage ist, eine geringe Verformungsfestigkeit des Materials, so
dass die Druckbeanspruchung reduziert wird, wodurch die Anforderungen an die
AnlagenHapazitt und den Werkzeugverschleiss mglichst gering gehalten werden.
Es gibt Kaltschmiedesthle der verschiedensten Zusammensetzungen, von

kohlenstoffarmen unlegierten bis hin zu den kohlenstoffhaltigen und legierten
Sthlen mit warmgewalzten Mikrogefgen aus FerritPerlit bis Martensit.
Whrend die kohlenstoffarmen unlegierten Sthle bei minimaler Vorbehandlung
fr das Kaltschmieden geeignet sind, erfordern die kohlenstoffhaltigen und
legierten Sorten eine Wrmebehandlung, im allegmeinen Weichglhen. Einerseits
wurde das Erweichungsverhalten einer Reihe von Sthlen und andererseits die
Reaktion verschiedener Mikrogefgearten von FerritPerlit bis Ferritweichgeglhtem
Karbid unter dem Einfluss der zwei Hauptschmiedearten untersucht : trgerloses
Rckwrtsfliesspressen (Eindringprfung) und Injektionsstauchen. Von den beiden
Prfungen ergibt das Injektionsstauchen besser reproduzierbare Ergebnisse, da
es schwierig ist, interne Risse bei der Eindringprfung zu erfassen. Kohlen
stoffarme Sthle ergaben bei beiden Versuchen die besseren Leistungen, da nicht
metallische Einschlsse den massgeblichen Kontrollfaktor darstellen.
Diese Sthle zeigen ebenfalls ein relative Unempfindlichkeit gegen

Oberflchenfehler. Demgegenber waren die kohlenstoffreichen Sthle weniger
verformbar, was hauptschlich auf die Karbidvolumenfraktionen zurckzufhren
ist, und wiesen eine deutliche Empfindlichkeit gegen Oberflchenfehler auf.
In den beiden Kaltschmiedbarkeitsprfungen konnten ntzliche Relationen
zwischen Zugdehnbarkeitseigenschaften und Leistung hergestellt werden.
xvi
6210.KC.8/802
INHALTSVERZEICHNIS Seite
1. EINLEITUNG 1
2. MECHANISCHE PRFUNG UND QUANTITATIVE 1

METALLOGRAPHISCHE VERFAHREN
2.1 Zugbeanspruchungsprfungen 1
2.2 Metallographie 1
2.3 Kaltschmiedbarkeitsprfungen 2
2.3.1 InjektionsStauchprfung 2
2.3.2 Eindringprfung 3
2.3.3 Einzelheiten der Prfungsbedingungen 3
3. WERKSTOFFE 4
3.1 Stahlzusammensetzung 4
3.2 Vergtungen und Mikrogefge 4
3.2.1 Stahl 1 (0.1% C) 5
3.2.2 Stahl 2 (0.2% C) 6
3.2.3 Stahl 3 (0.4% C) 6
3.2.4 Stahle 4 und 6 (0.18% C - 0.8% Cr; 7
0.16% C-Ni-Cr-Mo
3.2.5 Stahle 5 und 7 (0.35% C - 1% Cr; 7
0.035% C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
3.2.6 Reaktion der Stahle 4-7 auf die 7
Vergtungen
4. ERGEBNISSE 8
4.1 Zugbeanspruchungseigenschaften 8
4.2 Kaltschmiedbarkeitsprfungen 8
4.2.1 Injektionsstauchprfung 8
4.2.2 Eindringprfung 10
4.2.3 Verformungsbelastungen 12
4.2.4 Messungen der Oberflchenverzerrung 12
5. DISKUSSION 13
5.1 Vergtungen 15
5.2 Zugbeanspruchungseigenschaften 16
5.3 Bewertung der Kaltschmiedbarkeit 17
5.4 Verformungsbelastungen 20
5.5 Oberflchenverzerrung whrend des Schmiedens 21
6210.KC.8/802
INHALTSVERZEICHNIS (Forts.) Seite
6. SCHLUSSFOLGERUNGEN 22
7. LITERATURNACHWEIS 23
TABELLEN 1 - IO
ABBILDUNGEN 1 - 30
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6210.KC.8/802
AUFSTELLUNG DER TABELLEN
1. Analysen der Versuchsstahle
2. Vor dem Kaltschmieden angewandte Erweichungsvergtungen fr

kohlenstoffarme und kohlenstoffhaltige Stahle
3. Einzelheiten der angewandten Vergtungen
4. Allgemeine Mikrogefgedaten
5. Einschlucharakterisierung
6. Widerstandsfhigkeitswerte fr vergtete Proben
7. Zugbeanspruchungseigenschaften
8. Ergebnisse der Injektionsstauchprfungen
9. Ergebnisse der Eindringprfungen
10. Messungen der Oberflchenverzerrung
XXI
6210.KC.8/802
AUFSTELLUNG DER ABBILDUNGEN
1. Bearbeitungsanlage fr die Injektionsstauchprfung

2. Makrogetzter Querschnitt einer Injektionsstauchprobe des
Stahls 7/4
3. Bearbeitungsanlage fr die Eindringprfung
4. Makrogetzte Abschnitte der Eindringprfungsproben bei einem
hohen und niedrigen Stanzhub
5. Mikrogefge des Stahls 1
12. Das Verhltnis zwischen der Flchenverkleinerung wegen des Zuges
und % Perlit fr Vergtungen, mit dem streifiger und weichgeglhter
Perlit gewonnen wird
und dem Volumenanteil des Karbids in vergteten Proben
und dem mittleren Hub whrend der Ribildung fr ungerillte Proben
in der Injektionsstauchprfung
15. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem Hub whrend der Ribildung fr unge-
rillte Proben in der Injektionsstauchprfung und dem errechneten
Volumenanteil der Karbide fr weichgeglhte Stahle.
16. Gegen die Rillentiefe eingezeichnete Ergebnisse fr den Stanzhub
whrend der Ribildung fr die InjektionsStauchprfung
17. Das Verhltnis zwischen der hchsten, gleichmigen Verzerrung in
der Zugbeanspruchungsprfung und dem mittleren Hub whrend der Ri-
bildung in der Injektionsstauchprfung fr gerillte Proben.
18. Das Verhltnis zwischen der Fliefestigkeit und dem mittleren Hub
whrend der Ribildung in der Injektionsstauchprfung fr gerillte
Proben
19. Stanzhub whrend der Ribildung als eine Funktion der Widerstands-
fhigkeit fr gerillte und ungerillte, vergtete Proben in der
Injektionsstauchprfung
20. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem mittleren Hub whrend der Ribildung
und der hchsten, gleichmigen Verzerrung in der ungerillten
Eindringprfung
21. Gegen die Rillentiefe eingezeichnete Ergebnisse fr den Stanzhub
whrend der Ribildung in der Eindringprfung
22. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem mittleren Hub whrend der Ribildung
und der hchsten, gleichmigen Verzerrung in der gerillten Eindring-
prfung
xxiii
6210.KC.8/802
23. Stanzhub whrend der Ribildung als eine Funktion der Widerstands-
fhigkeit fr gerillte und ungerillte, vergtete Proben in der
Eindringprfung
24. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem Nachgebedruck in den Kaltschmiedprfungen
und der Fliefestigkeit in einachsiger Spannung
25. Die Verzerrungsverteilung im geformten Flansch der ungerillten
Injektionsstauchproben der Stahle 1/12 und 7/4
26. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem Hub und der beobachteten Oberflchen-
verzerrungen an der potentiellen Bruchstelle
27. Detaillierte Verzerrungswege fr verschiedene Stellen auf dem Flansch
der Injektionsstauchproben der Stahle 1/12 und 7/4
28. Verzerrungswege fr die Injektionsstauch- und Eindringprfungen an der
potentiellen Bruchstelle
29. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem Hub whrend des Bruchs in der ungerillten
Injektionsstauchprfung und dem Kohlenstoffinhalt
30. Das Verhltnis zwischen dem Hub whrend des Bruchs in der ungerillten
Injektionsstauchprfung und der projektierten Lnge der nicht metal-
lischen Einschle fr die kohlenstoffarmen Stahle 1, 2, 4 und 6.
31. Zusammenfassung des Verhltnisses zwischen der Rillentiefe und dem
mittleren Stanzhub whrend des Bruchs in der Injektionsstauchprfung,
in der der Effekt der Zusammensetzung gezeigt wird
XXIV
6210. KC 8/802
COLD FORGEABILITY
Final Report - ECSC Agreement No. 6210.KC. 8/802

Period 1st April 1975 - 30th September 1978
1. INTRODUCTION
In common with many of the highly automated high productivity

metal forming processes, cold forging has placed increasingly
stringent demands in the broadest sense on material quality re-
quirements. From an economic viewpoint, overspecification of
material requirements is undesirable and consequently methods of
predicting the response in a particular cold forming operation are
of considerable interest. Hence the need for reproducible and
meaningful testing procedures. With regard to materials selection
a number of interacting and frequently incompatible requirements
are imposed. Whilst a minimum preconditioning of the forging
stock (in the context of softening heat treatments) is desirable,
the attainment of specific properties in the component, developed
either in the cold formed condition or after subsequent heat
treatment may ultimately dictate the choice of chemical composit-
ion and microstructure. Further requirements are to obtain
adequate ductility for the forming operation consistent with the
need to minimise tool loadings.
A diverse range of steels is used for cold forging from mild

steel to medium carbon and alloyed grades. Inevitably the res-
ponse to heat treatments and ultimate performance during forming
will depend on the complex interactions between steel composition,
heat treatment variables, prior and post heat treatment, micro-
structures and forming mode. A further important factor is the
effect of surface defects and their interaction with microstruc-
ture, properties and forming operation. Finally with regard to
both technical and economic considerations the kinetics of various
softening heat treatments and the consequences in terms of forging
performance are of concern. This study covers a range of typical
plain carbon and alloy cold forging steels, haAring a diversity
of microstructures and properties and subject to two basic cold
forging assessment tests.
2
MECHANICAL TESTING AND QUANTITATIVE METALLOGRAPHIC
TECHNIQUES
2.1 Tensile Tests
Tensile tests were carried out on 6.4 mm diameter specimens

with a gauge length of 31.?6 mm (5-75/Area ) . A constant cross-
head speed of O.O63 s _ 1 was used. The usual parameters yield, or
proof stress, tensile strength, elongation and reduction of area
were measured. In addition the maximum uniform strain at insta-
bility was recorded. From the reduction of area, the longitudinal
strain at fracture was calculated.
2.2 Metallography
The microstructures of all materials :in the pre-cold forged

condition were examined using standard optical metallography, in
6210.KC.8/802
all cases the bars were sectioned longitudinally at mid-diameter

and for general microstructural categorisation and quantification
the specimens were etched in 2% nital.
Quantitative analysis of the microstructure was performed by

both manual and automatic counting methods, as appropriate, using
for the latter techniques a Quantitative Television Microscope
(QTM 7 2 0 ) . The area fraction of sulphides and oxides were
established using automatic counting, and in addition the inclu-
sion lengths and widths projected onto the longitudinal and trans-
verse axes respectively were measured. The data were obtained by
examining 3OO fields per specimen at a screen magnification of
xÔO. Inclusion projected lengths and widths were also determined
using a manual intercept method: the microscope magnification
employed was x400 and the length of intercept was 5'6 mm. The
approximate number of inclusions intercepted was 900.
The characterisation of carbide size distribution was

attempted using a standard electron optical carbon extraction
replica technique and making observations from photomicrographs
at standard magnifications. However, this proved to be unusually
difficult due to the diffuse images of the extracted carbides which
were orientated at an angle to the sectioning plane. Consequently
a quantitative assessment was abandoned in favour of a visual
assessment.
2
3 Cold Forgeability Tests
In choosing tests for cold forgeability it is necessary to

consider the type of deformations that are imposed in commercial
operations. There are a wide variety of tooling configurations
used and these are well summarised by Okamoto'l'. Thev can be

classified in two groups, namely extrusion, and upsetting. The
distinguishing feature between the two classifications is the
direction of material flow which is parallel to the direction of
applied force in extrusion and perpendicular to it in upsetting.
Any particular cold forging operation may involve both of 'these
elements in varying proportions and with varying degrees of con-
straint .
2.3.I Injection Upset Test
Two types of test have been employed in this investigation.

The first is the injection upset test in which a bar is forced
into an annular recess in the tool as shown in Fig. 1. In the
version of the upsetting process used in this study the lower end
of the bar is confined in a recess which prevents radial flow.
This was considered desirable to allow study of a wide range of
steels from soft mild steel to hardenable alloy steels since it
increases the severity of the test. The effect is to generate
heavy shear on the k3 cone shown in the macroetched specimen,
Fig. 2. In the early stages of the test the material in the
recess bulges but as the test proceeds the shear band is formed
and the heavily sheared material from the centre of the bar is
forced onto the lower pleitten. Drittle materials which fail at
low punch strokes fall by tensile failure at the periphery of
the formed flange but ductile materials fail by shear fractures
initiated in the heavily sheared material against the platten.
6210.KC.8/802
2.3.2 Penetration Test
The second test is the penetration test in which a punch is

forced into a slug of metal as shown in Fig. 3. The characteris-
tics of the test are less simple than for the upsetting test
since whilst in essence it resembles the back extrusion process
the lack of radial constraint allows a radial, upsetting type of
deformation to occur. The material flow, which can be seen in the
macroetched sections in Fig. k, is such that a cone of undeformed
metal under the punch is pushed into the test piece generating
radial movement in the adjacent material and shearing the surface
on the inside of the formed cup. The stresses set up are such that
the rim of the cup is pushed against the punch and the heavily
sheared material on the inside of the formed cup is forced away
from the punch. This leads to tensile stresses in the sheared
material which ultimately cause fine cracks. This is the mode of
failure in ductile materials. In brittle materials tensile failure
occurs in the outer surface of the cup near the top of the specimen
where the strain limit is achieved due to barrelling.
2.3.3 Details of Testing Conditions
In both tests the possibility of failure occurring in areas

of the specimen which are not visible requires the detection of
the sound produced by the failures in the hidden areas. In this
investigation a stethoscope has been used since electronic methods
have proved inadequate due to the difficulty of separating out
background noise. Other failure criteria have been used where
appropriate i.e. maximum punch load and visual detection of ex-
ternal fracture.
A standard specimen diameter of 22.86 mu was used for all the

cold forgeability tests. The specimen lengths for the injection
upsetting and penetration tests were 76.2 and 25-4 mm respectively.
The punch speed during the test was constant at I.52 mm/min and
I.27 mm/min for injection upsetting and penetration tests respec-
tively.
The effect of surface defects was studied by testing speci-

mens prepared to a standard ground finish of 1.6 jam C.L.A. and
with single, longitudinal grooves O.I5 mm wide and varying depths
from O.13 mm to O.5I mm. To determine the surface strain at
failure and its development during the tests, additional specimens
of certain steels were given selected heat treatments and grid
marked with 2.5 mm diameter circles by electrolytically etching.
The circles were measured before and after testing to 30%) 6 0 % and
100% of the stroke at failure.
All specimens, except those with grid marks were given a

stress relieving anneal of 1 hr at 250 C prior to testing and lub-
ricated by the Donderlube 235, zinc phosphate/sodium starate
lubrication treatment.
The grid marked specimens were not stress relieved after

machining and were lubricated by solid MoS g /uraphite lubricant to
preserve the grid pattern.
6210.KC.8/802
3. MATERIALS
3 .1 Steel Compositions
A wide range of steels is used for cold forming applications.

Among the reviews of cold forming, which include national trends
in steel use, are those of Domalski and Schucher(2), Kiessler and
Frober'3J, Eaton(^), Nagumo et al(5) and Backer and Chevrant'").
In view of the detrimental effect of solid solution elements

and second phase forming elements in decreasing ductility and
raising flow stress with consequent decrease in tool life it is not
surprising that one of the most widely used steels for cold forming,
having the maximum ductility is a low carbon, low silicon, low
manganese steel, killed with aluminium. This steel type is made
to a number of standards, of which B.S. 970/030A04, SAE IOO8 and
AFNOR XC10 are typical. Since small scale laboratory melts are un-
likely to have inclusion distributions and hot rolled microstruc-
tures identical with production materials the emphasis has been on
obtaining commercial steels. An example of the low carbon steel was
obtained as 26.9 mm diameter bright drawn bar. The analysis of
this material, designated Steel 1, is given in Table 1, together
with details of the remaining steels used in the programme.
Unalloyed steels containing up to about 0.4% carbon are used

for cold forging. In order to provide a realistic coverage of the
carbon range (Steels 2 & 3) with 0.2% and 0.35% carbon were
chosen; corresponding to standards B.S. 3111.O, B.S. 970/040A17,
SAE 1020 or similar to AFNOR XC18 and B.S. 31II.I, B.S. 970/080A42,
SAE 1042 or AFNOR XC38 respectively. In order to minimise the
delay in obtaining a supply of the 0.2% carbon steel, this material
was produced as two separate melts in the laboratory by vacuum in-
duction melting.
At each of the two carbon levels chosen for the unalloyed

steels two alloyed materials, Steels 4 & 5) were selected. Both
steels contained nominally 1% chromium with higher nickel and
copper in the higher carbon material. The 0.17-0.22% C steel
corresponds to B.S. 970/527A19, equivalent to SAE512O, and the
0.34-0.38% C steel to B.S. 97O/53OA36, similar to AFNOR 38C4.
Although more highly alloyed hardenable steels are less

widely used for cold forging because of limitations in softening,
the need nevertheless arises when specific property requirements
are demanded. Consequently a low carbon case hardening alloy
(Steel 6) containing nickel and chromium was included together
with a 0.35-0.40% C nickel-chromium material (Steel 7) to enable
the effects of alloying elements on properties to be studied.
These steels are to specifications B.S. 970/535A1.4 and
B.S.97O/817M40 respectively which are close to AFNOR specifica-
tions 20NC6 and 35NCD6.
All materials except Steel 1 were supplied either in the hot

rolled condition or in the case of Steel 3 after reheating and
straightening.
3.2 Meat Treatments and Microstructures
The basis for selection of the heat treatments has been to

** 6210. KC. 8/802
obtain low hardness levels, giving a range of microstructures

suitable for correlation with forging performance and to study
where possible material given treatments of commercial signifi-
cance. In addition as wide a range of microstructures as
possible is required (consistent with accepted forging perfor-
mance) so that an adequate relationship between microstructural
parameters and forging behaviour can be established. The heat
treatments proposed therefore are based upon current commercial
practice applicable to cold forging steels and include others
which may not be so economically attractive under production
conditions.
Generally for material supplied in coil form the rolling and

post deformation cooling conditions may be controlled to produce a
relatively wide range of microstructures. These variables will
not be considered in the present work which is concerned only with
heat treatment of bar stock. The principal types of heat treat-
ment are listed in Table 2 with identification of the treatment
type and relevant reference sources. Treatments 1-3 are the most
widely used in production, covering sub-critical anneal, inter-
critical anneal and full anneal or normalise. Treatment 1 is
common for low carbon materials such as Steel 1, treatment 2 being
widely used for the unalloyed medium carbon materials such as
Steel 3. Isothermal transformation, treatment 3A, is normally
used only for alloy steels such as Steels 5 and 7. This may be
followed by a sub-critical anneal to spheroidise the transformation
products. Because of the long tempering times required quenching
and tempering is rarely used as a production softening treatment.
Nevertheless, it does provide a means of obtaining a uniform
carbide distribution and offers some control over morphology.
Treatment 4 has therefore been included.
In addition to the heat treated conditions detailed below,

Steels 1, 4 and 6 were subjected to cold forging tests in the as-
received condition. Steels 5 and 7 were excluded because of their
high hardness in this condition and Steel 2 because being a
laboratory prepared steel it would not be representative of
commercially produced material. Shortage of material dictated
the omission of Steel 3
3.2.1 Steel 1 (0.1% C)
Before preparation of the forging stock could be commenced

it was necessary to carry out a range of preliminary heat treat-
ments from which optimisation of process times and temperatures
would be determined. The initial heat treatments used for Steel 1
covered a relatively wide range including tempering of the as-
received bar, sub-critical anneal, inter-critical anneal, normalise,
normalise and temper, full anneal, quench, quench and temper.
Both air cooling and furnace cooling are standard treatments for
softening bright drawn bar. The water quench was used to provide
material which would give a significantly different carbide dis-
tribution on subsequent tempering. Surface to centre-line hard-
ness traverses on transverse sections of the as-received and heat
treated bars of Steel 1 were carried out and the ferrite grain
sizes measured. Except for the as-received and the as-quenched
bars, which showed hardness variations across the section, all
the remaining heat treatments resulted in relatively flat hardness
profiles. lii view of the relative homogeneity only average hard-
6210.KC.8/802
nesses will be reported. Full annealing of Steel 1 produced a

structure with a grain size similar to that of the as-received
material but with more pronounced pearlite banding and well
developed grain boundary carbides. On tempering, the furnace
cooled material showed the greatest resistance to carbide spheroi-
disation, while spheroidisation was most rapid in the as-received
material and intermediate in the air cooled material.
Previous work relating forming pressures to microstructure

has been concerned with pearlite volume fraction and ferrite grain
size or ferrite free path in fully spheroidised structures. Con-
sequently, the heat treatments chosen reflect these requirements.
These include prolonged tempering of the quenched structure to
develop a range of uniformly distributed spheroidised carbide
particles and prolonged tempering of the as-received pearlitic
structure to obtain a similar degree of spheroidisation and par-
ticle growth with carbides distributed within the former pearlite
regions. A summary of the adopted heat treatments for Steel 1 and
all other materials is given in Table 3
With regard to the effect of heat treatment on Steel 1, it

will be evident that at the low carbon content of 0.1% a relatively
narrow hardness range resulted although a suitably wide range of
ferrite grain sizes and carbide distributions was obtained as
shown in Fig. 5 Microstructures of the remaining steels are
illustrated in Figs. 6-11. Table 4 gives a qualitative description
of the microstructures together with grain size, pearlite colony
size measurements obtained by lineal analysis and pearlite area
fraction obtained by point counting. To complete the metallo-
graphic examination, inclusion projected lengths and widths to-
gether with % by volume of cementite, manganese sulphide, and
oxides, estimated from the chemical composition given in Table 1
are included in Table 5
3.2.2 Steel 2 (0.2% C)
The range of treatments adopted for Steel 2 were, nornuilise,

full anneal, quench and temper and a thermomechanical treatment
involving warm working. This latter treatment consisted of norma-
lising a 50 mm square section from 925 C to produce a ferrite-
pearlite structure. This was then reheated to 700 C for one hour
and the material rolled at this temperature to 28.5 mm diameter bar.
After slow cooling from the rolling temperature, a tempering
treatment of l6 hours at 680 C was used to recrystallise the
ferrite. The resultant microstructures for the range of heat and
thermomechanical treatments covered ferrite-pearlite, ferrite-
carbide, and a directional distribution of spheroidised carbide in
the warm worked specimen, Fig. 6. As expected the higher carbon
content of Steel 2 is reflected in an increased fraction of
pearlite and generally finer ferrite grain sizes compared with
Steel 1.
3.2.3 Steel 3 (0.4% C)
Since this steel differed from the others of commercial

origin in that it was supplied hot coiled from the mill, it was
necessary to hot straighten lengths for experimental purposes.
This was accomplished by heating 2 m lengths to 900 C, straight-
ening and air cooling. The microstructure obtained in tills way
was equivalent to that obtained after normalising, Figs. 7a and d.
6210.KC.8/802
The higher carbon content is again reflected in the pearlite

fraction having increased to approximately 7 0 % .
3-2.4 Steels 4 and 6 (0.l8% C-0.8% Cr; 0.l6% C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
These alloy steels group together on the basis of carbon

content. They were difficult to soften further from the as-re-
ceived ferrite-pearlite condition compared with the plain carbon
steels. Pearlite banding was also evident on slow cooling or
isothermal transformation, Figs. 8 and 10. The lowest hardness
achieved in both steels resulted from intercritical heat treat-
ments in which the microstructures contained spheroidised pear-
lite, Figs. 8c and 10c. A further feature of these steels is the
substantially higher pearlite/carbide fraction compared with un-
alloyed steel of similar carbon content. The microstructures in
this group of materials range from ferrite-pearlite to ferrite
with partially spheroidised carbides.
3.2.5 Steels 5 and 7 (0.35% C-l/0Cr; 0.35% C-Ni-Cr-Mo)
As would be expected, the medium carbon alloy steels resisted

softening to the greatest degree proving virtually impossible to
reach the upper maximum of about 150 HV30 required for cold forging
operations. Indeed, the hardness of this group of steels was sig-
nificantly higher than that of the previous group and were in the
range l83-409 IIV30. The most successful treatments achieving the
lowest level of hardness involved prolonged tempering. However,
these would be unrealistic under production conditions. An
alternative heat treatment has since been proposed by Anand and
Gurland* 7 ) . The normal sub-grain structure of a quenched and
tempered martensite can be eliminated by means of a cyclic heat
treatment in which a quenched structure is thermally cycled about
the Al temperature. In principle this cycle, of short duration,
could be carried out by resistance heating. Unfortunately this
approach was not adopted in the present study. The range of
microstructures for Steels 5 and 7 were essentially variations on
spheroidised carbide distributions in ferrite with the exception
of the isothermally transformed specimens which were ferrite-
pearlite, Figs. 9 and 11.
3.2.6 Response of Steels 4-7 to Quench and Temper Treatments
The quench and temper treatments were selected to give uni-

formly distributed carbides with a relatively wide range of carbide
sizes. Austenitising temperatures of 85O C and 83O C were used for
the low carbon steels (4 & 6) and the high carbon variants (5 & 7 ) ,
respectively, followed by oil quenching and tempering at tempera-
tures of 63O C and 680C for times up to 64 hours. The higher
carbon materials 5 & 7 behaved very similarly in that the acicu-
larity of the martensite structure persisted to long tempering
times, Fig. 11(d). In comparison, the development of a clearly
defined ferritc-carbi.de structure in low carbon Steel 6 was more
rapid, being well established after l6 hours at 63O C or 4 hours
at 680C. Even so, the presence of many fine carbides effectively
inhibits the development of a regular equiaxed grain structure.
Steel 4, which had the lowest alloy content and consequently

was not fully hardenable, contained a mixture of ferrite and
bainite; the bainitic carbides coarsened with increasing time and
temperature with little apparent change in the ferrite, Fig. 8 ( e ) .
6210.KC.8/802
The various microstructural changes were reflected in the

hardness response with temperature and time as shown in Table 6.
The low carbon steels 4 and 6'showed similar behaviour for a given
tempering temperature with a tendency towards a relatively flat
softening response with time, particularly at the lower tempera-
ture of 63O C. Allowing for the scatter of results a hardness
difference between Steels 4 & 6 of about 10 HV30 was maintained
throughout the tempering time range with the lower alloyed steel
being the softer. The effect of a 64 h temper at 63O C on softe-
ning was about the same as that produced by a 4 h treatment at 680 C,
The net result of an extended temper at the higher temperature was
a decrease in hardness of about 40 HV30.
Although the optical micrographs of the higher carbon alloy

steels indicated little change with time, the softening response
was rapid and sustained at temperatures of 63O C and 68O C, showing
a decrease in hardness over the treatment time 4-64 hours of about
60 HV30 in Steel 7 and rather less in the lower alloyed Steel 5
Nevertheless, both these materials were considerably harder than
the lower carbon steels. An increase in tempering temperature to
680 C ivas effective in reducing hardness by about 50 HV30 compared
with a temperature of 63O C.
4. RESULTS
4.1 Tensile Properties
The tensile properties of the heat treated steels are shown

in Table 7 together with the hardness, HV30. The hardness and
yield strength increased with increasing carbon and alloy content
from about 200 N/mm ( 90 IIV30) in Steel 1 to 570 N/mm 2 (23O HV30)
in Steel 7 The usual inverse relationship between tensile strength
and tensile elongation was observed though quenched and tempered
specimens consistently show a higher ductility at a given strength
level. Reduction of area values showed a similar trend.
The results relating to the work hardening chareicteristics ,

namely maximum uniform strain and yield stress/ultimate stress
ratio are also reported. These again show the trend towards low
work hardening (high yield/ultimate ratio and low uniform strain)
with increasing strength and alloy content.
A comparison of this data with the microstructural features

given in Table 4 confirms that the usual microstructure-property
relationships were observed. Thus ferrite grain size is inversely
related to yield stress (proof stress). Fracture properties
(per cent reduction of area and fracture strain) are dependent
upon the fraction of second phases, as pearlite (or spheroidised
carbide in tempered martensite structures ) . Figure 12 shows this
relationship for ferrite-pearlite structures: spheroidised pearlite
produces higher fracture strains. As is well-known, ductility, as
measured by reduction in area, is primarily a function of the
volume fraction of second phase particles present: this relation-
ship for spheroidised carbide (tempered martensite) structures is
confirmed in Fig. 13, using calculated volume fractions of cemen-
tite (Table 5 ) .
4.2 Cold Forgeability Tests
4.2.1 Injection Upset Test
8
6210.KC.8/802
Details of the injection upset test results are presented in

Table 8. The mean strokes at cracking of plain (ungrooved) speci-
mens are plotted as a function of tensile reduction of area and
microstructure type in Fig. 14. There is also a clear trend for
maximum uniform strain to correlate with punch stroke at cracking.
Within the framework of the general trend for increased tensile
ductility to correlate with improved forgeability, it may be seen
that each of the three main microstructure types gives rise to a
different dependence of mean stroke on reduction of area. Thus
while the tensile test clearly differentiates between the ductili-
ties of fully spheroidised, spheroidised pearlite-ferrite and
lamellar pearlite-ferrite structures, such differences are not
always reflected in injection upset test results. This is
particularly true for the lower carbon steels (numbers 1, 2, 4 and
6 ) , in which there are ferrite-pearlite steels with forgeability
as good as or better than fully spheroidised steels. Of the other
steels, only Steel 3 shows the expected trend to increased punch
stroke at failure with increasing reduction of area. The ferrite/
pearlite microstructures which consxstentiy have lower reduction
of area values in all steels led to lower forgeability in this
steel. This trend is shown to a lesser extent in Steel 7 whilst
in Steel 5 there is little change in injection upset result with
changing microstructure. In this group of higher carbon steels
spheroidised structures consistently give better values of mean
stroke at failure.
The influence of carbide volume fraction upon the ductility

of fully spheroidised steels means that this factor has a major
influence on forgeability: this is generally confirmed by Fig. 15.
Clearly, however, other factors must be taken into account when
considering these steels in more detail. Considering the low
carbon steels 2, 4 and 6 (~0.l8% C) in the quenched and tempered
condition, forgeability is decreased by increasing alloy content;
this is apparent even though the carbon content reduces slightly
as alloy levels are raised. Thus the main differences between
Steels 4 and 6 are the slightly higher molybdenum and nickel
contents of the latter. The fact that the cleanness of the steels
in this group generally decreases in the order 2, 4, 6 (Table 5)
should not be overlooked as a contributory factor in restricting
forgeability. In particular, Steel 6 has a significantly greater
sulphide content than Steels 2 and 4. These comments apply
equally well to steels in this group having ferrite-pearlite
structures. Indeed it should be emphasised that with the
possible exception of Steel 2, the composition of the steel chosen
from numbers 1, 2, 4 and 6 has most bearing upon forgeability as
measured here than any individual microstructural parameter so far
examined (Fig. l 4 ) .
The group of medium carbon (-0,4% C) steels, numbers 3, 5 and

7, present a rather different pictiire. As noted previously, in
each case fully spheroidised structures give optimum forgeability,
although the margin in Steel 5 is very small, and in contradistinc-
tion lamellar pearlite-ferrite structures are least favoured. It
will be observed that, in Steel 3, the banded ferrite-lamellar
pearlite microstruetures of samples 3/3 and 3/6 are the least
formatie of those studied. Steel 7/5, which was also banded, also
had poor formabili ty.
Considering the quenched and tempered material from each of

the steels in this medium-carbon group, it will be seen that
6210.KC.8/802
formability again decreased as alloy content was raised. None of

these steels was particularly clean, and indeed the sulphur and
oxygen contents of Steel 3 are relatively high. If banded micro-
structures are detrimental in injection upset testing, then the
presence of a similarly aligned array of fairly large manganese
sulphide inclusions such as that in Steel 3 can only exacerbate
poor formability.
The mean punch stroke to failure as a function of groove depth

is plotted in Fig. l6. It is clear from this that the ductile
Steels 1 and 2 are not sensitive (and Steel 4 is only slightly
sensitive) to 0.13 mm deep grooves, whilst the stronger, higher
alloy steels show a more rapid deterioration in forgeability with
groove depth. Although the metallographic and tensile data for
the replacement Steel 2B is unfortunately unavailable the impor-
tance of composition is also clearly indicated in Fig. l6b. This
shows an apparent increase in stroke at fail\ire for treatments 2/1,
2/2 and 2/3 at a groove depth of 0.13mm which may be explained by
the lower carbon content of these materials of an otherwise iden-
tical composition compared with Steel 2.
No clear relationship was found between the mean stroke at

cracking and reduction of area for pre-grooved samples. It may be
deduced from Tables 7 and 8a that pre-notching specimens oblite-
rates the relationships found for unnotched samples. Instead, the
stroke at cracking for grooved injection upset test specimens may
better be correlated with the maximum uniform strain observed in
the uniaxial tensile test, at least for specimens with a ferrite-
pearlite structure. This relationsp is illustrated in Fig. 17
in which the groove depth chosen is that above which there is
little further reduction in stroke to failure. It is interesting
to note that certain steels with fully spheroidised carbides
(quenched and tempered steels) do not conform with the general
trend. These deviations are emphasised in Fig. l8 which shows the
relationship between tensile yield stress and stroke at failure
for the same specimens as Fig. 17. By comparing this Figure .with
Table 8a it may be concluded that full spheroidising of Steels 5
and 7 gives optimum performance in the grooved injection upset
test. Furthermore, in this microstructural condition comparatively
high yield strengths are observed.
An insight into the effect of varying the distribution of

spheroidal carbide on forgeability can be obtained from Table. 8b.
This shows the results of injection upset tests on quenched
samples of Steels 4 to 7 which had been tempered at various times
and temperatures. It will be seen that increasing both time and
temperature (i.e. coarsening the carbide distribution) increases
the cold, forgeability. However, it will be seen that the effect
is related to hardness, Fig. 19 Two general curves are clearly
defined for grooved and ungrooved specimens. Only Steel 4 shows
a marked deviation from the general trend, especially in the
notched samples and this is most reasonably explained by the low
inclusion content in this steel. Even so, it can be concluded
that for a given steel the best combination of hardness and
forgeability are achieved by high temperature and long time
treatments.
4.2.2 Penetration Test
The results of the Free Penetration (Unsupported Backward
10
6210.KC.8/802
Extrusion) test programme are summarised in Table 9. It was
noted earlier in Section 2.3.3 that it is difficult to detect
internal cracks in these specimens, and this is reflected in the
poor reproducibility of the test results in ungrooved specimens.
For this reason, it is extremely difficult to associate these
data with any other properties or microstructural features, so
that only qualitative observations may be made regarding the un-
grooved specimen test results.
In general terms, it may be seen from Tables 7 and 9a that

the stroke at cracking is directly related to tensile ductility.
In particular, Steel 1 is consistently rated as the most formable,
while conversely Steel 7 is the least formable. This relationship
is illustrated in Fig. 20, which plots the average stroke at
cracking for all heat treated conditions of a given steel against
the range of maximum uniform strains observed in each steel. It
is worth noting that reduction of area in the tensile test does
not correlate at all with this measure of average forgeability,
in contrast to the case of injection upset testing.
A striking feature of the ungrooved penetration test results

is the significantly higher frequency of external cracking in
Steels 3 and 5 when compared with the remaining materials. Table
5 shows that these are the two materials with the highest manganese
sulphide inclusion contents, and it seems plausible that this
factor should be the one controlling the likelihood of failure at
the exterior surface.
The effect of notches on the results of penetration tests is

demonstrated in Fig. 21. It is clear that the softer Steels 1, 2
and 4 require groove depths greater than O.13 mm to reduce the
mean stroke to failure. In fact, within the scatter of results,
Steel I/12 did not show appreciable loss of forgeability for groove
depths less than 0.64 mm. The decrease in forgeability is assoc-
iated with the change of failure mode from internal to external
cracking. At the same point there is a marked improvement in the
reproducibility of the results. For Steels 3i 5, 6 and 7 a groove
depth of O.I3 mm was sufficient to change the mode of failure.
The stroke at cracking of these samples, expressed as the

average of the paired tests, is plotted as a function of maximum
uniform tensile strain in Fig. 22. In general there is a strong
correlation between the two parameters, this correlation being
different for ferrite-pearlite and fully spheroidised steels.
While this latter condition results in better formability for a
given uniform elongation the advantage is marginal.
The effect of tempering treatment on the penetration test

results is presented in Table 9b. These are best summarised by
plotting the results against hardness, Fig. 23. This reveals an
inverse relationship for the notched specimens but a less clear
trend for unnotched specimens. Scatter in the latter can be
expected in view of the variation in the method of failure
detection noted in the table for Steels 6 and 7.
Comparison of Fig. 23 with the similar plot for the injection

upset test in Fig. 19 shows significant differences. Steel 4 shows
no sensitivity to notches in the penetration test as distinct from
the substantial notch sensitivity in injection upsetting for the
11
6210.KC.8/802
harder conditions. The trend for the notched penetration tests

is similar to that for the injection upset tests except that
Steel 5 lies significantly below the trend line for Steels 6 and
7 For the penetration test the preference of tempering tempera-
ture is not so clear cut but the tendency seems to be the reverse
of that observed for the injection upset test in that at a partic-
ular hardness the lower tempering temperature gives marginally
better formability.
4.2.3 Forming Loads
Compared with the consistency of tensile yield stress values

in the forging stock the yield load in forgeability testing shows
considerably greater scatter. This may be largely accounted for
by the relatively inaccurate method of yield load assessment based
on the limit of proportionality. However the general trend of
data points indicates a correlation between tensile yield stress
and the yield load in both injection upsetting and penetration
testing. As seen in Fig. 24 the yield load in injection up-
setting can be estimated with a reasonable degree of accuracy
from a knowledge of the tensile yield stress on the assumption
that at yielding the deformation mode is uniaxial compression
i.e. the tensile and compressive yield stresses are the same and
the effective area in injection upsetting is the cross-sectional
area of the specimen.
By comparison the situation in penetration testing is more

complex since the assumption of uniaxial compression and an
effective area equal to that of the punch underestimates the
punch loads. However if the effective area is taken as the average
area of the punch and specimen the resulting prediction of punch
yield load based on tensile yield stress corresponds remarkably
well with the experimental data.
The load at failure in the forgeability test can be deter-

mined more accurately than the yield load. However correlation
with the equivalent tensile parameter (tensile strength) is not
always valid. It can be seen from Tables 8a and 9a that the load
at failure decreases when notches are introduced indicating a
dependence on the stroke to failure. Even so the ungrooved
injection upset tests show a clear trend for stroke at failure
to increase with tensile strength. For the ungrooved penetration
test the relationship between tensile strength and failure load is
erratic, probably reflecting the uncertainty in the detection of
failure by cracking on the internal surface.
4.2.4 Surface Strain Measurements
The results of surface strain measurements made on selected

specimens are summarised in Table 10 in which the strain measured
at the failure site in the axial and circumferential or hoop
direction are reported for both types of test at 30%, 60%and 100%
of the mean stroke to failure. It should be noted that in the
case of all steels in the penetration test, failure occurred
by internal cracking so in tiri.s case the recorded strains at the
surface do not represent a limiting surface strain.
For the injection upset test detailed analysis of surface

strains on the unconstrained surface of unnotched specimens have
been studied for Steels J/12 and 7/4, which represent extremes of
ductility.
12
6210.KC.8/802
These results are presented in Figs. 25 to 2 8 . The reference

point used in these Figs, is the 'crease' which originates from
the portion of the specimen which is at the top of the gap ( G ) ,
separating the tooling at the start of the test (Fig. l ) . Axial
strains are those in a direction which was parallel to the
specimen axis at the start of the test. In Fig. 25 the surface
strain is plotted for both steels as a function of distance ex
pressed in units related to the distance between grid circles (2.4mm)
and therefore representing the position in the original undeformed
bar. This method of presentation was chosen in preference to the
real distance in the formed product because it enables strain path
analyses to be derived. The vertical axis is drawn corresponding
to the point where the deformed flange meets the undeformed bar.
Logic dictates that, at this discontinuity where the diameter

in the flange is equal to the original bar diameter, the tensile
hoop strain must be zero but equally that there must be an imm
ediate radial compressive strain to produce the work hardening that
will enable the material here to create the force needed to push
the flange outwards. This is consistent with the plotted curves
but the exact value of the intercept on the strain axis is not
know. It should also be noted that the maximum tensile strain
occurs at the extreme edge of the formed flange where failure is
initiated.
The data in Table 10 can also be used to plot the maximum

surface hoop strain as a function of stroke. In Fig. 26 the
results at all of the various percentages of stroke to failure have
been used with the exception of the penetration test result for
Steel 1/21 at the maximum stroke which had higher strain than the
general trend. Both tests show a consistent trend although at
high strains in the injection upset test there is greater variation
in the stroke to produce a particular strain. The curve drawn
through the points for the injection upset test fit the following
equation which is based on the observation that the material
extruded by the punch occupies about 8 4 % of the annulus defined
by the gap in the tooling and the inner and outer diameter of the
formed flange.
Stroke .
Hoop Strain = \ In + 1
0.84 gap
The penetration test results follow a linear relationship.
A further development of this data is to plot the strain

path. This is done in Fig. 27 at various positions for injection
upset specimens of Steels l/l2 and 7/4. In Fig. 28 the strain
paths at the failure site for both forgeability tests are shown for
the other selected steels together with those for samples 1/12 and
7/4. It will be seen that for all samples except those of Steel
1/12, higher surface strains at failure are observed in injection
upsetting than in the penetration test.
5. DISCUSSION
Cold forging covers a diversity of operations usually com

prising a hybrid of the basic forms, upsetting and extrusion. In
consequence the behaviour of the material cannot be analysed in
terms of a single process but may involve for example simple
13
6210.KC.8/802
compression, uniaxial tension and plane strain at the surface of

the workpiece during progression of the forming operation. In
basic terms the cold forgeability capacity of a material may con-
veniently be described as the ability to flow to the desired
shape without failure by cracking. It is apparent therefore that
in view of the various straining modes the material must possess
a high degree of ductility. In this context it is generally
accepted that the soft low carbon steels rank better than the
higher carbon grades and that the softest condition for a given
material is usually the most formable condition, hence the
tendency wherever possible towards the mildest compositions having
the minimum fraction of cementite and solid solution strengthening
elements silicon and manganese. A further advantage of the low
carbon unalloyed grade of material is that forming can generally
be carried out in the hot rolled condition without the need for
pre-conditioning heat treatments.
Whilst it is obviously economically desirable to minimise or

preferably to eliminate prior treatments this may be incompatible
with the metallurgical requirements in the forged component, per-
haps dictating the need for an alloyed heat treatable material or
for a particular microstructure in the cold forging stock aimed at
achieving a suitable combination of properties in the cold forged
condition. With respect to the latter requirement the interacting
effects of surface condition, mechanical properties and micro-
structure with regard to defect sensitivity may exert a dominating
influence. A final complicating factor is the need to restrict the
flow stress of the material in order to maintain press and tool
loads at a tolerable level and equally important to minimise tool
wear. In this regard mild steels are clearly superior to carbon
steels which in turn are preferable to alloyed grades both from
the point of view of lower matrix solid solution strengthening
and also in terms of carbide hardness and abrasion properties.
In the latter respect, carbide dispersion is clearly of importance,
relatively coarse carbides generally being preferable to a fine
dispersion. Thus, considering the many interacting variables, it
will be apparent that the choice of material and microstructure is
a compromise dictated by the various technical and economic
factors.
Next to the material and cold forging costs, heat treatment

is a matter of prime economic concern. Although the choice of
treatment is frequently a matter of trial and error(8) it will be
apparent that heat treatments can vary widely in terms of com-
plexity and cycle time, hence the need to attempt rationalisation
of the various heat treatment factors with regard to steel compo-
sition and prior and final microstructures. Typical heat treat-
ments may vary from simple sub-critical and supra-critcal anneal-
ing and normalising to intercritical annealing and multi-stage
treatments of extended duration. Though rarely used, quench and
temper is also a possibility under certain circumstances.
Although many attempts have been made to relate cold forging

performance with basic tensile properties such as reduction of
area, elongation or the strain hardening exponent 11, and its
related parameter maximum uniform elongation, this simplistic
approach, which in principle has much to commend it, clearly cannot
take account of all the factors. Nevertheless this approach pro-
vides a number of useful guide lines and is comnonly used either
alone or in conjunction with cold forgeability simulation testing
14
6210.KC.8/802
as a means of predicting cold forging performance.
5.1 Heat Treatments
Accepting the basic criterion that the degree of softening

is a qualitative indication of the cold forgeability index, it is
evident that in terms of the heat treatment overall cycle time,
low carbon steels are the most responsive and consequently the
least costly to process. Indeed this observation also applies to
the unalloyed higher carbon steels 2 and 3 which together with
Steel 1 softened to their lowest levels after low cycle time,
single stage, simple treatments. Considering the low carbon un-
alloyed Steel 1, the range of treatments covered had relatively
little effect on hardness, the maximum difference over the range
being 12 HV30. Nevertheless in looking for the lowest hardness
level obtainable the tendency is for the longer treatments
involving either extended times at temperature as in sub-critical
or inter-critical annealing or slow furnace cooling from a full
anneal to give the best results. These types of treatment tend
to result in predominantly spheroidised pearlite, the proportion
decreasing in the treatment order, sub-critical anneal, inter-
critical anneal, full anneal. Rather surprisingly, with the
exception of the normalising treatment which had the shortest
cycle time of all the treatments, the normalise and temper, and
the quench and temper, were the least attractive both in terms
of the softening achieved and the complexity and time of the
cycles.
Although a full range of comparable treatments were not

carried out for the intermediate and higher carbon Steels 2 and
3 a similar trend to that observed for Steel 1 was found with a
tendency towards a narrow range of hardnesses for a relatively
wide range of treatment conditions. Indeed with the exception of
the quench and temper treatment for Steel 3 the characteristic
lowest hardnesses of the various materials is clearly a function
of carbon content. The indications are, however, that optimum
softening conditions were not achieved in Steels 2 and 3 unlike
the case in Steel 1. This viewpoint is reinforced by reference
to the microstructures which for the majority of treatment
conditions tend to give a ferrite-pearlite structure. Indeed
only the quench and temper treatment resulted in any marked
tendency towards a truly uniform though relatively fine carbide
distribution. In summary, it is clear that, with regard to the
unalloyed steels, softening treatments of the sub-critical or
inter-critical anneal type are likely to be the most favourable,
with treatment times related to carbon content for a given 'as-
received' microstructure.
Insofar as the hardness range of the various alloy steels

is concerned the situation is not substantially different from
that found for unalloyed materials in that, for the treatments
studied, a relatively narrow range of hardnesses for each steel
composition was observed. However the effect of alloy additions
has had a substantial effect on mean hardness level. Comparing
Steels 2 and 4, both having similar carbon contents, the mildly
alloyed Steel 4 lias resulted in a hardness difference of about
70 HV30 over the unalloyed steel. The general microstructure of
the alloy steel is also finer for comparable treatments, in the
majority of cases, this resulting in fine ferrite grain sizes
and finer pearlite/carbide colonies. A further distinctive
15
6210.KC.8/802
feature is the marked banding in the alloy steel. Comparing

the effect of alloying elements therefore it is clear that in
addition to the disadvantage of higher base line hardnesses more
complex and lengthy treatments are required.
With regard to the effect of alloying elements at the higher

carbon content of approximately 0.4% (c.f. Steels 5 and 3) except
for the quench and temper treatments 3/8 and 5/11 virtually no
difference in hardness was observed. It should, however, be
appreciated that the more complex treatments for the alloy steel
have resulted in a greater tendency to carbide spheroidisation
than the simpler heat treatments have exerted on the unalloyed
materials.
In considering the higher alloyed Steels 6 and 7 the results

indicate a hardness deinendence on alloy content though this effect
over the range of fully softened alloy steels studied is not as
marked as the effect of carbon content. Thus comparing Steels 4
and 6 the higher alloy content of the latter is compensated by
the lower carbon content resulting in similar hardness values
for the two steels. The effect of alloy content is clearly
defined in the higher carbon pair of alloy Steels, 5 and 7, the
higher alloy content steel showing a higher level of hardness.
Consideiîng the quench and temper treatments as a group it

will be evident that this consistently resulted in higher hardness
for a given process time compared with alternative treatments such as
annealing or isothermal transformation. Even for extended
tempering times up to 64 hours, the alloy Steels 4-7 were not fully
softened at the lower tempering temperature of 63O C, though the
softening rate may be greatly accelerated by increasing the temper-
ing temperature. Nevertheless it would seem that in view of the
extremely low rate of carbide coarsening the principal merit of
quench and temper is to achieve a more uniform carbide dispersion,
albeit on a relatively fine scale. In the context of accelerating
the softening behaviour of the alloy and higher carbon steels it is
interesting to reflect on the possibility of incorporating pre-
conditioning treatments into the hot rolling process. Steel 2,
treatment 4 is an example of this type of approach which, compared
to the quenched and tempered treatments, resulted in a coarser
ferrite matrix with bands of coarse splieroidised carbide.
5.2 Tensile Properties
The tensile strength of all the steels except Steel 2 follows

the expected relationship with hardness, with the low carbon un-
alloyed Steel 1 having the lowest strength at approximately 3OO
N/mm 2 to the relati\'ely high strength alloy Steel 7 at about
700 N/mm 2 . The tensile strength of Steel 2 is highC3r than would
be predicted from nard."ess but shows the expected trend with
carbon content. Yield strength/tensile strength ratios were
relatively low in the ferrite-pearlite microstructures (in the
range 0.55-0.7) and increased in the quenched and tempered steels
to 0.7-0.07. In general the higher alloyed steels tend to have
YS/UTS ratios at the upper end of the ranges.
With regard to the metal flow in a cold forging operation a

correlation between tensile ductility and forging behaviour might
be expected and indeed this is observed to a greater or lesser
degree depending on other factors. On this basis it is interesting
16
6210.KC.8/802
to compare the effect of microstructure on tensile reduction of

area values. In ferrite-pearlite steels it is observed that
ductility is related to % pearlite. This is not surprising since
pearlite is important in void nucleation; an interrelated effect
is the reduction in sustained work hardening capacity. The
tendency is for the coarse pearlites from supra-critical annealing
treatments to lie at the low end of the ductility band in Fig. 12.
In contrast the pearlites having finer interlamellar spacing
derived by normalising or inter-critical annealing lie towards the
top of the band. Considering the effect of composition and heat
treatment on the pearlite fraction it would be expected that in-
creasing alloy content and increasing cooling rate from the
austenitising temperature would work in the same direction resul-
ting in a higher proportion of pearlite. Although the general
consequence of this would be to lower the ductility it does appear
from the available data that the increased volume effect may be
offset by the consequent refinement of the pearlite lamellae.
Spheroidisation of the pearlite is clearly beneficial in increasing
the tensile ductility. Over the range of microstructures covered
in this investigation the trend suggests a lower sensitivity of
tensile ductility to spheroidised pearlites compared with lamellar
pearlites. This is due to the reduced aspect ratio of the carbides.
The fully spheroidised carbide structures derived from quench

and temper treatments have significantly better tensile ductility
compared with lamellar or spheroidised lamellar structures espec-
ially in the higher carbon steels, Table 7 5 as a consequence of
the reduced effectiveness of the carbides as crack nucleants.
The low carbon steels are relatively less sensitive to variations
in carbide morphology and this coupled with the low sensitivity of
strength properties with heat-treatment in these materials rein-
forces the view that no major advantage is to be gained by intro-
ducing complex treatment cycles. Even so carbides are still
important in fracture initiation since there is a good correlation
between reduction of area and volume fraction of carbide, Fig. 13
5.3 Cold Forgeability Assessment
In considering the forgeability test procedures covered in

this study it will be evident that marked differences have emerged
in their suitability as indicators of cold forging performance.
The injection upset test rates better in terms of both reproduci-
bility and discriminating ability. This latter advantage is
apparent from the wide range of stroke to failure values, varying
from 9-40 mm in the injection upset test compared with 3-23 mm in
the penetration test. The problem of reproducibility in the
penetration test is due to the fact that in ungrooved specimens
failure often occurs by fine cracks forming at the internal
surface of the formed cup making fracture detection difficult.
An improvement in reproducibility can be obtained by introducing
external surface grooves, thereby moving the failure site to the
external surface. However this is gained at the expense of test
sensitivity due to the lower punch stroke at failure.
The establishment of meaningful correlations between tensile

properties and cold forgeability is clearly desirable not only
in giving a greater margin of confidence in the assessment test
but"also'perhaps in enabling the tensile test to be usefully
employed as a predictive tool. Such a correlation between tensile
17
6210.KC.8/802
reduction of area and mean stroke at cracking in the ungrooved

injection upsetting test is given in Fig. 14. Clearly micro-
structure is important when considering the correlation. The
results separate into distinct bands distinguished by the three
microstructure types, namely lamellar pearlite, spheroidised
pearlite and fully spheroidised carbide resulting from the quench
and temper treatments. Although tensile reduction of area is
relatively sensitive to microstructure type the injection up-
setting test in contrast is less sensitive. Thus only when
microstructure is taken into account does tensile reduction of
area become a relatively accurate indicator of forgeability.
Considering the effect of microstructure in more detail it is
evident that the three microstructure bands may be further sub-
divided, with the coarse carbide microstructures lying at the
low tensile ductility end of the respective bands. While this
approach improves the predictive capability of the correlation
it is evident that a more accurate qviantification of microstructure
than has been possible in this study would be necessary. Such a
detailed metallographic assessment however is questionable for use
as a production screening test and an alternative indicator of
cold forgeability is perhaps worth considering.
Within the framework of this experimental programme the most

potent variable influencing cold forgeability performance in in-
jection upsetting is the steel composition, and specifically carbon
content. Steel 1 having the lowest carbon content is markedly
superior in terms of forgeability performance thoxigh showing con-
siderable overlap of tensile reduction of area values with the
0.16-0.21% C Steels 2, 4 and 6. Of this group Steel 6 shows
consistently inferior cold forgeability compared with the other
two materials though again having a completely overlapping range
of tensile ductility values within the grouping. The inferior
performance may be attributed to the effect of incLusions, Steel 6
having the highest content of both sulphides and oxides of the
intermediate carbon content materials. As might be expected
uniaxial longitudinal tensile testing of barstock is relatively
ineffective in highlighting the anisotropy introduced by elongated
inclusions. This further confirms the difficulty of establishing
meaningful relationships between tensile test and forgeability
test parameters, in low carbon steels.
The higher carbon Steels 35 5 and 7 are the least formable

with mean stroke at failure values less than half of those found
in the mild steel and 4 0 % below the values for the intermediate
carbon content Steels 2 and 4. With the exception of Steel 3 which
shows a reasonable correlation of punch stroke with tensile duc-
tility , mainly a consequence of a greater number of data points
covering a wider range of pearlitic microstructures, the high
carbon materials are perhaps marginally less sensitive to the
forgeability assessment test than thi. lower carbon materials.
This is perhaps surprising particularly in view of the marked
tensile ductility dependence on microstructure, a fact which may
be explained by the increased concentration of second phase
particles. Compared with carbon content the substitutional element
alloy additions have a relatively small detrimental effect on the
injection upset test performance when tested in the ful'y softened
condition, their principal role being confined to that of solid
solution strengthness. Indeed even allowing for the additional
reduction in ductility in the annealed and normalised alloy steels
18
6210.KC.8/802
as a result of the increased fraction of pearlite, alloying
elements are expected to play a relatively minor role, compared
with that of carbon, in typical cold forging steels. In contrast
with the response of the lower carbon steels the higher carbon
group of materials appear to be considerably less sensitive to
inclusion content in the injection upset test. This is apparent
from Fig. 14 in which the higher sulphur and oxygen content Steel
3 shows overlapping stroke at failure values with Steels 5 and 7.
Presumably the carbides exert the dominant role in the fracture
process. These conclusions are in accord with the findings of
Boulgar et al^9) who reported a trend of decreasing forgeability
in upset testing with increasing carbon, alloy and inclusion
contents.
The relationship between stroke at cracking and carbon content

for the injection upset test is shown in Fig. 29. While there is
a general deterioration of formability with increasing carbon it is
evident that the effect of inclusions cannot be ignored when con-
sidering the lower carbon steels. This is amply demonstrated in
Fig. 30 which shows that there is a similar good correlation of
stroke at failure with the projected length of inclusions for
Steels 1, 2, 4 and 6. Thus within the framework of this investi-
gation it would appear that within the lower carbon group of
steels the projected length of inclusions has a dominant effect
on formability.
While the above discussion implies the relative importance of

carbide morphology on formability for a given steel this is not
the case if tensile strength properties are taken into consideration,
As shown in Tcibles 7 and 8a there is a trend for the spheroidised
structures to give higher stroke at failure for a given yield
strength compared with pearlitic structures. Thus neglecting
economic considerations, in the particular circumstances where
strength in the as-formed condition is important spheroidised
microstructured are preferable.
In general, materials having the highest ductility show the

greatest surface defect tolerance in cold forgeability testing.
This is conveniently summarised in compositional terms in Fig. 31,
increasing carbon and alloy contents resulting in progressively
rapid deterioration with notch depth. The higher carbon steels
also show an accelerated onset of failure and a tendency towards
a low stroke at failure plateau at shallow defect depths. Thus
the substantial forgeability difference between ungrooved mild
steel and the higher carbon materials is further widened over a
limited groove depth range at the shallow end of the surface
defect spectrum. Thereafter the differences in forgeability
between the various ..:teels diminish with increasing notch depth,
the trend of results suggesting a common broad forgeability
plateau within which the performance of a wide range of steels is
essentially equal beyond a critical gross surface defect depth.
When considering the effect of surface defects it is interes-

ting to compare the change in the tensile ductility-forgeability
relationship following the introduction of a notch. The relation-
ship with reduction of area is no longer valid but Figs. 17 and
1.8 show that tensile yield stress and maximum uniform elongation
do correlate reasonably well. However, be cause botn of these are
interrelated, and are dependent on the carbon content it is unclear
which factor is controlling the failure process.
19
\J c- j . vy . i v o . \j f KJKJ Cu
It is however evident that with the exception of Steel 3 the notch

sensitivity response is independent of microstructtire the rate of
decay of cold forgeability with notch depth being equal for the
lamellar and spheroidised carbide structures. In Steel 3 which had
the highest carbon, sulphur and oxygen contents the notch sensi-
tivity increases in the order pearlite, spheroidised pearlite,
spheroidised carbide. Comparing the data for Steel 3 with that
for Steels 5 and 7 it appears that this rating is a consequence of
the relatively low stroke at failure values in the unnotched
pearlitic condition, rather than to high notch sensitivity of the
spheroidised structures. This is probably associated with the
high inclusion content coupled with the lower defect tolerance of
the less ductile pearlitic matrix.
When considering the penetration test, the problem of poor

reproductibility due to the uncertainty in failure detection makes
the establishment of clear trends difficult. However, it does seem
that, when comparing performance with tensile properties, the
formability relates best to the uniform elongation. This is
reasonable since the constraints imposed by the tooling in this
test are minimal and therefore material parameters such as work
hardening rate and strain rate sensitivity can influence the
strains developed during the test. There is support for this con-
cept in the variability of the strain paths presented in Fig. 28b
for the penetration test specimens. The relationship between
uniform elongation and stroke at failure applies equally well to
the notched tests. The relationship is not obviously influenced
by notch depth but this is not sxirprising. The effect of the
notch in penetration testing is to move the failure site from
internal to external surfaces. As the groove depth increases from
zero, the stroke to failure will be constant since the internal
cracking is limiting. At the groove depth where external cracking
becomes limiting, comparison with the results from the injection
upsetting test shows that the effect of increasing groove depth is
relatively small.
In contrast to the injection upset test, no clear effect of

microstructure could be found in the ungrooved condition. However
there was a marginal tendency for microsti-uctures containing pre-
dominantly spheroidised carbides to have better forgeability than
lamellar pearlite in the notched penetration test.
5-4 Forming Loads
A prior knowledge of the forming forces is clearly of interest

particularly when specifying heat treatments or when plant loading
considerations are paramount. While the nature of the forming
operation and tooling configuration are unique and a r e significant
factors in influencing deformation forces, the mechanical properties
of the material are clearly of fundamental importance. Furthermore
tensile properties arc usually readily obtainable. For this reason
it is interesting to compare strength properties with the forming
forces in the two fundamentally simple and basic forming operations,
injection upsetting and unsupported backward extrusion.
It has been shown in Fig. 24 that irrespective of the presence

of grooves the yield load in the forming tests can be predicted
from the yield stress in the uniaxial tensile test. Indeed since
the determination of the yield load in forming, based on limit of
proportionalt ty, is subject to error it may be reasonably expected
20
6210.KC.8/802
that the prediction based on tensile yield stress is the more

accurate if the interrelationship is known.
Conversely the maximum or failure load during forming can

be accurately determined and from the data it is evident that
this is not simply related to tensile strength. This is not
surprising since the failure load depends not only upon the
geometrical factors affecting the transmission of the stresses
at the failure site to the point of application of the forming
load but also upon the yield strength of the material being formed
and the amount of work hardening produced by the deformation in
the particular forming test. Thus surface grooves and inclusions,
which lower the ductility, reduce the failure load. However a well
defined relationship exists between tensile strength and load at
failure in the ungrooved injection upset test. As previously dis-
cussed the difficulty of failure detection in penetration testing
is aggravated by the internal failure mode, consequently less
reliance may be placed on correlations between maximum load in
the penetration test and tensile properties.
Although the quenched and tempered spheroidal carbide micro-

structures usually result in superior formability for the higher
carbon steels compared with lamellar microstructures or derivatives
of these, the forming loads fire generally higher. Furthermore the
quench and temper treatments are economically unattractive,
necessitating long process times to achieve an acceptable degree
of softening. Thermomechanical treatment appears to offer an al-
ternative approach by which spheroidisation of lamellar carbides
is accelerated following intermediate temperature deformation. In
the case of Steel 2, warm deformation resulted in exceptionally
low forming loads comparable with those of the lower carbon Steel
1 and inferior only to Steel 2 in the fully annealed condition.
A further advantage is the higher level of formability in the in-
jection upset test despite the relatively severe microstructural
banding, Fig. 6d. Hence it would seem that at least in the lower
carbon steels further optimisation of microstructure is possible
by modification of the hot rolling conditions.
5.5 Surface Strains in Forging
Although valid correlations have been established between

uniaxial tensile properties and cold forging performance it is
useful to consider the strains developed in an actual cold forming
operation since the failure strains under the applied stress sys-
tem in forming do not necessarily relate directly to failure in
uniaxial tension. From measurements of surface strain throughout
various stages of the test it has been possible to establish an
approximate relationship between punch stroke and tensile hoop
strain at the failure site. This data has been incorporated in
Figs. l6 and 21 for the injection upset and penetration tests
respectively. It will be noted that for the injection upset
test the results agree with the theoretical relationship which is
not linear duo to the large radial expansion which takes place in
this test. Thus in higher ductility materials a unit increase in
failure strain will result in a greater improvement in forgeability
as measured by punch stroke to failure. Since the penetration test
undergoes loss radial expansion the relationship between stroke and
strain is approximately linear and therefore this benefit does not
apply.
21
6210.KC.8/802
In the injection upset test it is interesting to note that

a constant value of 0.8 was observed for the maximum tensile hoop
strain at failure in four of the five steels studied representing
the low and intermediate level carbon steels in both spheroidised
and ferrite-pearlite conditions. These steels which cover a range
of punch stroke at failure from 30-40 mm show severe shear cracks
from the surface of the flange in contact with the tooling. Thus,
it appears that in high ductility materials this mode of failure
is limiting.
6. CONCLUSIONS
1. Two tests have been used for assessing cold forgeability;

namely the injection upset test and the free penetration
or unsupported backward extrusion test. The latter test
has been shown to be less suitable in terms of both
reproducibility of the result and ability to discriminate
between the steels and heat treatments in the range
covered. This is especially true for the ungrooved samples
and is attributed to the difficulty in detecting the in-
ternal failures which are a feature of the unsupported
backward extrusion test.
2. Typical cold forging steels have been studied ranging from

the widely used low carbon unalloyed grades to the less
commonly used higher strength air hardening grades. These
have been tested in uniaxial tension and in laboratory
cold forgeability tests for a variety of heat treated con-
ditions which produced microstructures containing lamellar
pearlite, spheroidised pearlite and uniformly distributed
spheroidal carbides. The low carbon steel showed little
variation of strength and hardness with differences in
heat treatment and no significant advantage was obtained
by using complicated, more expensive heat treatment, cycles.
Quenched and tempered treatments for this type of steel
gave virtually no improvement in punch stroke to failure
although an increase in punch load was observed. High
carbon alloyed steels however, proved to be difficult to
soften. For these steels longer and more complicated heat
treatments were necessary. Punch loads were clearly
related to yield and tensile strengths, and these would
therefore provide an indicator of tool wear.
3. Spheroidised structures gave consistently better ductility

than the pearlite structures in the uniaxial tensile test
but this was not always reflected in the component crack
susceptibility. Even so there is a well defined relation-
ship between reduction of area in the tensile test and
the maximum stroke in the injection upsetting test for
the ungrooved specimens when the full range of steel
compositions is considered. Three distinct relationships
can be discerned corresponding to the three distinct
microstructural types i.e. lamellar pearlite, spheroidised
pearlite and spheroidised carbide.
4. The effect of artificially produced surface defects is

seen to reduce the forgeability in a similar way in both
types of test though the difference between the compositions
is more distinct for the injection upset test results. Low
carbon, low alloy steels show an obvious lack of sensitivity
22
62io.KC.8/802
to small notches whereas the high carbon and high alloy

compositions show a rapid initial fall in forgeability
with the introduction of surface defects. Carbon content
is most important in decreasing forgeability and increasing
the notch sensitivity, through its effect on volume
fraction of second phase. Alloy content is of secondary
importance in this context but has a minor effect by in
creasing matrix strength. In general, the notch sensitivity
reflected the initial unnotched strain to failure.
5 Related to the effect of notches is the role of non-

metallic inclusions which are effectively intrinsic notches.
Thus, although carbide content and morphology is the domi
nant factor overall, high inclusion contents were seen to be
detrimental to formability in the lower carbon steels.
Despite the fact that the experiments were not designed to
cover this aspect, inclusion content can be identified as
a controlling factor in formability; particularly in the
penetration test , when the failure site can be changed
from internal to external cracking.
6. Although surface strains at failure and strain paths have

been measured on the unsupported surfaces of both the
injection upset and penetration tests, the value of these
results is diminished by the fact that failure may occur
elsewhere e.g. on the internal bore of the penetration
test where surface grids are ineffective in assessing
surface strains. In some instances where cracking
occurred in grid marked areas, the surface strains at
failure were lower than those observed in the tensile
test, reflecting the difference in orientation of the
fracture with respect to the elongated inclusions.
7. REFERENCES
1. Okarnoto, T., Fukuda, T., and Hagita, . , The Sumitomo

Search (1973) 9.= 46-56.
2. Domalski, H.H., and Schucher, H., Stahl und Eisen (l970)

90 (20) : IO87-IO96.
3. Kiessler, H. and Froher, H., Stahl und Eisen (l97l) 9J.

(3) : 129/133.
4. Eaton, P.M., Wire Industry 39. (l972) Dec : 995-998.
5. Nagumo, M., Yamaguchi, S., et a l . , Nippon Steel Tech.

Rep. Overseas (l973) (3) : 90-103-
6. Backer, L., and Chevrant, X., Revue de Metallurgie, Feb.

1975, 163-176.
(2) :
7. Anand, L., and Gurlaud, J., Met. Trans. A (l976) JA
I9I-I97.
8. MacQuarrie, N.A., and Battle, L.J., Wire Industry (l9?8)

June, 4 74-483.
9. Boulgar, F.W. , Becker, J.R. and Henning, II. J., Proc. 1.6th
Mechanical Working and Steel Processing Conference, Pari: X I I ,
A IMME, New York 1974 : 26.5-284
6210.KC.8/802
10. Cooksey, R.J., Metal Forming (1968) 35. (4) : 98-IO6 and 111,
11. Brown, D.M., Bell, J.R., and Grozier, J.D., Proc. 11th
Mechanical Working and Steel Processing Conference, Part
VII, AIMME, New York 1969 : l4l-157-
24
TABLE 1
ANALYSES OF EXPERIMENTAL STEELS WT%
Steel Al
C Si Mn S Cr Mo Ni Cu Sn 0
No. tot
, 0.077 0.031 O.3O 0.002 0.020 O.O3 0.018 O.O9 0.14 0. 1 1 0.014 0.010 0.002
2 0.21 o.o4 0.31 0.012 0.01 1 0.04 O.OI7 O.O7 0. 10 0. 12 0.014 0.006 0.004
2B . 16 0.05 0.28 0.008 O.OI3 0.04 <0.02 0.08 0.093 O.O7 0.021 0.005 -
3 0.44 0.29 0.88 0.022 O.O5O 0.13 .38 0.20 <0.01 O.25 O.O25 0.008 0.007
4 0.18 0.31 0.80 0.012 0.01 1 0.85 0.022 0. 1 1 0.021 0. 12 0.014 0.009 0.005
5 0.38 0.25 0.78 0.015 0.043 1.19 .65 O.3O 0.01 O.27 O.O23 0.010 0.003
6 0.16 0.28 0.84 0.01 1 0.035 0.57 O.O6 0.89 0.05 O.29 0.022 0.010 0.002
7 | 0.38 0.23 O.60 0.022 0.034 1.32 0.24 1.41 <0.01 0.17 0.010 0.006 0.002

00
/
00

ro
TABLE 2
SOFTENING HEAT TREATMENTS USED FOR LOW AND
MEDIUM CARBON STEELS PRIOR TO COLD FORGING
No. Type Description Relevant

References
1 Sub-critical Reheat to within 10 of 10
anneal Ac, for 1-24 h.
2 Inter-critical+ Reheat to between Ac-] and 2,11 -
sub-critical Aco temperatures, cool at
anneal a controlled rate to below
Ac] and either hold or cool
further at a controlled rate.
3 Full anneal or, Re-austenitise to just above 5,10
if air-cooled, Aco and continuously cool.
normalising.
3A Isothermal Re-austenitise and rapidly
transformation cool to a subcritical
temperature, hold to allow
isothermal transformation.
4 QTT, or Uniform Re-austenitise, quench or 5
spheroidisation air-cool to a martensitic
structure, temper at a low
temperature and then sub-
Kl
critically anneal.
o
*

cc
o
6210.KC.8/802
TABLE 3
l/Heat DETAILS OF HEAT TREATMENTS USED
itment
Treat
ode
ment Details of Treatment Notations
Type
u
wEI
1/2 SCA 6h 690C AC SCA Subcritical

1/7 ICA 2h 720 C AC Anneal
1/12 Ih 925C AC . ICA Intercritical
1/13 NT gh 925 C AC + 6 h 69O C Anneal
1/15 FA gh 925C FC T Temper
1/21 QT yh
925 C WQ + l 6 h 69O O C Normalise
2/1 Ih 925C AC FA Full Anneal
2/2 FA gh 925 C FC Q Quench
2/3 QT gh 925 C WQ + 6h 60C AC IT Isothermal
2/4 WT Warm worked at 700 C + Transformation
16h 68g AC Warm Worked
3/2 ICA gh 750 C FC
3/3 FA Ih 850C FC
3/5 NT gh 850 C AC + 8h 680 C AC
3/6 IT h 85O C to 600C o 1h AC
3/8 QT 4h 850C + 8h 680 g
4/2 SCA As Rolled + 4h 68O C AC
4/5 ICA & gh 770 g to 650C gh AC
SCA +4h 680 C
4/6 Ih 850 C AC OQ Oil Quench
4/7 QT gh 85O C OQ + 4h 680 C AC WQ Water Quench
5/2 ICA 1h 740C to 650C at AC Air C ool
10C/h AC FC Furnace C ool
5/5 ITT h 9OO C to 67O C 4h AC +
l6h 680C AC
5/11 QTT gh 83O C OQ 2h 200 C + 4h
680C + 16h 680C 0
6/2 SCA As Rolled + 8 h 68O C AC
6/3 ICA gh 750 o C FC
6/4 FA Jh 925 C FC
6/8 QT h 85O g OQ + 8h 680 C AC
7/4 SCA 16h 680 C AC
7/5 IT 4~h 83O C to 67O C 4h AC
7/12 QTT gh 830C OQ + 4h 680C AC
+ 16h 680C
AD:DITIONAL QUENC H AND TEMPER TREATMENTS
4/31,6/31 QT gh 850C OQ + 4h 630C

4/33,6/3: QT +64h 630
, 0
C
4/34,6/3' QT " + 4h 680 o C
4/36,6/36 QT " +64h 680 C
5/32 QT gh 830C OQ +I6h 630C
5/33 QT " +64h 630 C
5/34 QT " + 4h 680O C
5/36 QT +64h 680 U C
7/35 QT " +l6h 680 C
7/36 QT +64h 680 C
6210.KC.8/802
TABLE 4
GENERAL MICROSTRUCTURAL DATA
Grain Pearlite /n
o
Steel Structure Size Colony I
m l i , juni Size, jum Pearlite
1/2 +spheroidised pearlite 37 10 3.8

1/7 +partially spheroidised 35 10 5.9
pearlite
1/12 +fine pearlite 29 10 4.4-
1/13 o, +spheroidised pearlite 20 1 1 6.0
1/15 +pearlite 29 16 2.6
1/21 o, - f s p h e r o i d a l carbide 10 - -
2/1 -fcoarse pearlite 33 20 19. 1
2/2 +pearlite 20 9 17.2
2/3 +spheroidal carbide 13 - -
2/4 +spheroidised pearlite 20 30 16 24.0
4/2 +mostly spheroidised 10 14 7 40.1
pearlite
4/5 +spheroidised pearlite 10 13x9 51 .8
4/6 0, -fpearlite 7 9 33.9
4/7 a -fspheroidised pearlite 8 12 6o. 0
6/2 +spherodised pearlite 10 14 10 43.4
6/3 a -fspheroidised pearlite 1 1 7 39.3
6/4 +fine pearlite 12 15x8 37.1
6/8 +spheroidal carbide ND - -
3/2 +pearlite 13 24 74.6
3/3 -fcoarse pearlite 24 24 64.7
3/5 -fspheroidised pearlite ND 24 70.7
3/6 O, - f p e a r l i t e 24 18 70.1
3/8 o, - f s p h e r o i d a l carbide ND - -
5/2 a. - f s p h e r o i d i s e d pearlite ND ND 84.0
5/5 pearlite: some ND 23 92.0
5/11 c, - f s p h e r o i d a l carbide ND - -
7/4 -fspheroidal carbide ND - -
7/5 -fcoarse pearlite 15 12 84.3
7/12 r> - f s p h e r o i d a l carbide ND - -
ND Not Determined
TABLE 5
INCLUSION C HARAC TERISATION
!
Sulphide Oxide Carbide
Proj . Proj . Proj . P r o j . Proj. Proj . P r o j . Proj.

Steel V o l . io Area Length Width Length Width V o l . o Area Length Width Length Width V o l . o
(Cale) (M) (Cale) (M)
( } ( A )
0
(M) io (A) ( A )
0 (M) 2 (Cale)
/ 2 nirn/mm'5 mm/mm / 2 mm/mm
2
/ 2 mm/mm~
mm/mm^ mm/mm2 mm/ mm mm/mm
1 0. 10 - 0.22 O.O7 0.010 O.69 0.50 1 .2
.....
2 ! 0.06 0.048 O.54 0.33 O.3I O.O3 0.018 0.007 O.O5 0.08 0.80 0.84 3.5
!
3 | 0.25 o. 185 1.4o O.67 2.31 0.37 0.035 0.019 O.O9 0.07 0.82 0.80 7.7
4 o.o6 0.043 0.50 0.4o 0.59 0.18 O.025 0.008 o.o4 O.O5 0.73 0.77 3.0
5 0.22 0.310 3.62 2.21 2.93 0. 18 0.013 0.018 0.09 0. 10 0.44 O.47 .
! 6 ! 0.18 0.219 2.78 1 .80 1.72 O.29 0.010 0.01 5 0.11 0.15 0.29 0.40 2.7
j !
i 7 ! 0.17 0. 145 1 .57 0.87 I.67 0.24 0.010 O.OI3 0.05 o.o4 0.41 0.37 G.
i ; 1
\.\) Automatic method () Manual intercept method
PS

co
00
o
)
6210.KC.8/802
TABLE 6
HARDNESS VALUES FOR QUENCHED AND TEMPERED SAMPLES
Tempering Tr eatment
Steel
630c 680C
No.
4 h 16 h ' 64 h 4 h 16 h 64 h
4 203 193 I85 160
5 (285) 260 237 245 200

6 213 195 197 178
7 (333) (285) (285) 26O 220
( ) Not used for Forgeability Testing

TABLE 7
TENSILE PROPERTI ES
Lower Yield Tensile Total Reduction Yield/Tensile

Steel/Heat Hardness or 0.2% Maximum Uniform Fracture
Treatment Strength Elongation of Area ' Strength
HV30 Proof Stress Strain Strain
Code N/mm2 % % Ratio
N/mm2
1/AR 164 _ _ _
1/2 90 181 307 49.8 80 O.23 I.61 O.60
1/7 90 189* 310 50.4 80 O.27 I.61 O.61
1/12 100 232 335 47.8 76 O.28 I.43 O.69
1/13 97 208* 318 48.5 82 O.27 1.71 O.65
1/15 86 201 310 49.0 77 O.25 1.47 O.65
1/21 102 236 335 53.8 85 O.27 I.90 0.70
2/1 89 251 403 42.9 69 O.225 1.17 O.62

2/2 87 198 366 42.1 64 0.21 1.02 O.54
2/3 93 291 415 38.9 79 0.20 I.56 0.70
2A 94 "
3/AR 201 _ _ . _
3/2 182 356* 651 28.6 50 0.17 O.69 0.55
3/3 182 363* 657 26.7 42 O.16 O.54 0.55
3/5 181 34l 6o4 31.8 60 O.185 O.9I O.56
3/6 184 387* 673 26.4 46 0.175 O.6I 0.57
3/8 196 434 629 33.0 70 0.155 1.20 0.70
VAR 165 _ _ _ _
4/2 153 325* 502 36.O 75 0.22 I.38 0.64
4/5 152 316* 496 40.0 76 0.22 1.42 0.64
4/6 163 378* 555 34.2 75 0.195 1.38 0.68
4/7 18 3.94 530 36.6 79 0.195 1.56 0.74
5/AR 317 _" _ _ _

5/2 185 366* 569 34.0 67 0.155 1.11 0.64
5/5 183 341* 635 30.6 55 0.155 O.8O 0.54
5/11 218 549 663 30.6 71 0.145 I.23 0.53
6/AR 165 _ _ _
6/2 150 34i 496 38.9 75 0.20 I.38 0.69
148 325 496 38.2 74 0.21 1.35 0.66
6/3 to
6/4 149 34i 515 37.6 68 O.16 i.i4 0.66
6/8 186 449 465 338 79 O.165 1.56 0.97
o
7/AR 409 _ _ _
7/4 235 583 732 25.8 70 O.I3 1.20 0.50
CO
7/5 210 394* 676 26.1 53 0.145 0.75 0.58
29.3 70 o.i4 1.20 0.82 o
7/12 232 573 697
AR As R e c e i v e d
0.2? Proof S t r e s s
TABLE 8A
RESULTS FROM INJECTION UPSETTING TEST
i No Groo'"e 0.13 mm Groove O.25 mm Groove 0 .38 mm Groove O.51 mm Groove 0.64 mm Groove
i Code Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke Yield Failure Stroke
'| Load Load Failure Load Load Failure Load Load Failure Load Load Failure Load Load at Load Load at
1 kX kX mm kN kN mm kN kN mm kN kN mm kN kN Failure kN kN' Failure
mm 03
l/.\R" 175 555 33.6,29.7 170 558 32.5,29.7

'/- 80 597 ' 36.2 78 585 38.1,35.3
! i/7 7*5 573 357,35.4 80 598 36.9,35.9
j 1/12 to 68 36.5 98 605 36.5,33.1 110 563 26.0,25.6 105 545 20.7, IO8 533 I6.8,
19.6 I6.5
: >;S 100 SQ8 34.<1,34. 1 95 600 35.7,33.8
: 1/ 13 33 573 37.0,36.3 78 573 37.6,36.6
! i/Ut 130 636 39.6,36.3 128 618 39.1,37.0
, '/AR 8* ao* 28.9*,21.1 + 130+ 568+ 20.4tl7.3+
i /I 120 S li 30.3,20.? 125 4 595* 32.7;;i1.5t 125 608 14.5,13-7
. / SO 60S 275,21.9 90; 550* 33.2,30.3 93 593 15.9,14.5
i 2/3 153 686 28.3,25.7 133 603+ 40.6+,42.6 158 658 18.9,18.0
<>o 635 3t.(>,31.2 110 615 17.8,18.3
-'*
i 3/2 150 877 150,14.3 143 800 11.2,10.2
i 3/3 150 825 13.2,10.7 ' 155 773 10.4, 9.7 ,
3/5 155 S67 18.4,17.6 153 773 11.6,10.6
1
~ / 155 827 12.4,10.7 170 795 10.5, 9.8
. 3/3 173 875 19.6,16.0 188 800 12.7,11.1
; VAR lR.3 845 20.0 28.9 185 713 13.5,13.4
! -t / 2 l'iO 785 2"* . 5 26 . 2 150 693 22.7,20.9 153 713 13-4,12.1
: 4/5 130 792 718 26.6,25.6 153 708 14.7,13.6
1 4/6 13 827 fisi^
28.0,28.6
153
168 738 24.0 23.8 I68 695 17.2,16.5 178 733 12.4,12.4

! 175 675 14.8,13-9
*/7 175 8 5 2 7 3 , 2 5.4 18 743 2.0,22.0 185 720 17.3,16.8 195 713 13.4,13.3
IB 680 14.4,14.8
753 10.4,10.4
i ! / i: 150
l4^
535
8 on
173,128
16.'1, l't.5
155
14 5 770 9.4, 9-3
: 5/11 233 870 17.7,15.1 (223 (785 (IO.7,10.7
1
j (27O (720 (11.0,10.7 278 740 10.5,10.5
! o/AR 17"> 7 19.7,14.7 180 660 11.9,10.7
' o,2 i4S 752 24.3,23.0 ( 10 (700 (12.0, 13.U
! (168 (610 (11.2, 10.7 165 595 12.5,12.0
i 6/3 128 760 24.3,19.8 l40 705 11.8,11.7
ioA 140 747 22.4,22.3 148 688 12.0,11.1
6/3 SS 792 22.2 21.1 (170 (718 (10.1, 9.9
(220 (640 (13.3,11.1 223 643 13.9.12.5
1
7/4 260 917 15.1,14.9 (193 843 (11.8,11.5
i (278 (770 (11.4,11.1 275 765 11.7,10.9
1{ 7/12
/5 175 860 15.1,II.3 I85 828 9-7, 9.5
2 '.o 27 17.8, 15.1 265 835 12.2,11.0
As Received
Results from Steel 2B
TABLE 8b
STROKE TO CRACKING IN QUENCHED AND TEMPERED SPECIMENS FOR THE

INJECTION UPSETTING TEST

Tempering Time (hrs)
Steel No. Groove At 630C At. 68oc

4 16 64 4 l6 64
25.4, 27.3
No 24.9, 23.1 26.5, 25.9 25.8, 26.3 26.9, 26.7
4 24.0, 22.0
0.13 mm 20.1, 2O.5 22.9 23.7 20.6, 22.3 25.7, 26.3
No 11.8, 16.9 16.3, 17.2 14.7, 14.8 I7.7*, I5.I* 18.5, 19.4
5
o. 13 mm 10.6, 10.7 11.2, 11.2 11.8, II.3 10.7*, 10.7* 12.0, 12.3
No 16.9, 2O.7 23.2, 21.8 22.2, 22.1 22.2** 21.2** 22.8, 23.I
6 o. 13 mm 13.6, 11.1 14.2, 12.5 I2.9, I5.3 10. 1** , 9. 1** I6.O, I5.3
No I7.8*, I5.I*
I5.6, I3.O 16.7, 17.6
7
0.13 mm 12.2*, 11.0*
11.1, 11.1 10.2, 10.2
o^
to
* QIT = 4 hrs and l6 hrs
** QT = 8 hrs Fs
O

C
\
CO
o
to
TABLE 9A
RESULTS FOR PENETRATION TESTS ON PLAIN AND UNGROOVED SPECIMENS
STROKE AT FAILURE VALUES ARE UNDERLINED WHEN CRACKING WAS EXTERNAL
No Groove 0 .13 mm Groove 0 .25 mm Gr oove 0.38 mm Groove
Code
Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at Yield Failure Stroke at
Load Load Failure Load Load Failure Load Load Failure Load Load Failure
kN kN mm kN kN mm kN kN mm kN kN mm
1AR* 133 350 22.8,22.9 135 333 22.6,21.1
1/2 58 308 19.1,179 55 313 22.9,22.5
1/7 58 308 20.1,16.2 63 295 20.5,17.3
1/12 73 313 19.7,17.6 70 328 22.2,21.3 70 330 20.0,14.8
1/13 70 370 19.3 70 323 22 .6 21.4
1/15 70 285 19.7,15.3 60 310 22.5,21.4
1/21 75 345,230 21.6, 8.7 85 328 22.3,19.3
2AR 83 + 363 + 23.5*22.9 + 85+ 220 + 7.6 +
2/1 88 378 18.0,17.5 7 308 + 22.0 + l6.0 + 80 295 14.5,12.2
2/2 63 335,285 20.0,11.7 6K 313 ++ 20.9j20.1* 60 310,235 7577, 8.1
2/3 110 350,360 14.3,16.3 K
90 308 18.6*16.9 108 210,210 11.7, 4.4
2/4 340 18.3 68 320 16.9,17.9
3/2 108 433 I3.O,11.2 110 343 7.2, 6
3/3 108 393 10.6, 7.5 95 330 6.8, 6.2
3/5 115 473 15.9,13.8 88 330 8.1, 6.2
3/6 475,405 14.9, .6 98 320 6.8, 3.2
3/8 150 460,400 16.5, 8.5 135 348 9^2, 8^6
4AR 125 380 15.3 130 255 4.4
4/2 100 345,250 10.4, 4.5 118 383 . 15.9,14.9 108 320 11.2,10.6
4/5 108 375,333 15.0, 94 113 395 16.7,16.3 103 338 13.7,12.3
4/6 110 355,240 11 0, 2.7 125 413 17.6,16.9 130 325 9-2 113 328 1 2 . 3 , 9.8
4/7 115 435 15.4,14.8 143 420 16.3,15.8 I38 315 10.3, 8.0 125 353 12.6,11.8
5/2 113 410,395 13.4,10.3 128 343 6.2, 6.1
5/5 105 405 12.3, 8.9 120 348 57, 53
5/11 185 423 13.7,10.6 130 345 6.0, 57 150 318 2*9, 2*2 158 298 2.7, 2.2
6AR 118 385 16.9,16.5 110 298 9.1, 8.8
6/2 105 375,350 17.1,11.5 115 350 11.8,11.1 115 285 9-3, 7.1 115 273 6.8, 4.0
6/3 100 398 16.8,15.9 108 363 132,11.4
6/4 113 385 18.5, 110 353 13.0,11.8
143 405,300 12.8, 5.3 125 355 10.6, 8.4 120 310 7.6, 7.2 118 275 2*2. 2*2
7/4 175 345 6.5, 4.5 158 370 148 35 4.7, 4.5 150 333 2*6, 2-0
7/5 113 420,315 9.8, 3.5 113 358 5.7, T cr.
7/12 165 445,350 9.4 148 373 10.3, 6.9 to
o
* As Received
+ Results from Steel 2B o
te
TABLE 9b
STROKE TO CRACKING IN QUENCHED AND TEMPERED SAMPLES FOR THE PENETRATION TEST
Tempering Time (Hrs)

Steel No. Groove At 630C At 68oc
4 16 64 .4 16 64
No .15-0, 15-2 15.1, 16.1 15.1, 15.3 16.1, 16.2

4 0.13 mm 15-8, 16.3 15.0, i4.8 16.0, 16.3
i4.i, i4.6
No 6.2, 9-7 11.9, 12.6 7.5, 8.8 11.4, 13.8

5
0. 13 mm 3-5, 3-4 4.7 3-8 4.2, 3.4 6.1, 6.8
No 11.3, lo.i 13.7, 14.2 16.7, 16.0 14.7, 13.8

6
0.13 mm 7-6, 7.6 9.7, 9-9 9.6, 8.5 11.1, 12.2
No 12.7, 13-7 12.1, 11.2

7 0.13 mm 4.9, 6.2 7.4, 7.2
Underlining indicate method of failure detection: None Visual

Single Solid Heard with Stethoscope
Single Dotted = Visual & heard simultaneously
Double Solid = Load maximum

TABLE 10
SURFACE STRAIN MEASUREMENTS
Injection Upset Test Penetration Test

/o Of
Code Stroke to Load Stroke Hoop Axial Load Stroke Hoop Axial
Failure mm Strain Strain kN mm Strain Strain
kN
100 638 41.7 .78 -0.60 360 21.1 .78 -.26

1/12 60 615 25.3 0.68 -0.41 253 12.5 0.21 -0.24
30 513 12.7 0.40 -.33 I85 6.7 0.08 -.15
100 605 28.I O.8O -.65 4io 22.2 0.40 -.31

1/21 6o 575 19.9 0.55 -0.47 280 I3.2 .26 -0.21
30 470 9.5 0.30 -0.29 190 6.3 .13 -0.15
100 650 37.8 O.5O -0.51 328 I7.7 0.40 -0.19

2/1 60 600 22.7 0.57 -0.47 253 IO.7 0.22 -0.21
30 515 11.2 .38 -0.37 185 5-9 .15 -O.O8
100 850 35.2 .76 -0.60 4oo I5.I .34 -.23

4/6 60 80 2.9 .56 -0.43 325 8.6 O.I5 -O.I6
30 700 9-8 0.19 -0.29 255 4.0 o.o4 -O.O9
100 900 IO.5 0.42 -0.37 445 11.2 0.23 -0.14 o-s
60 715 0.24 -0.23 375 6.2 0.12 -0.12 ro
7/4 6.1 Hi
I 30 500 2.7 O.O9 -0.13 313 2.2 0.05 -O.O5 O
1
o
CO

co
o
co
^
m^
Shear
Zone
to
FIG. 1 Tooling Arrangement for the Injection FIG. 2 Macro-etched Cross-Section of
Upset Test. The Test Severity is G/D an Injection Upset Specimen
where D = Specimen Diameter c o
of Steel 7
Co

CO
o
to
7^777/ -
to
FIG. 3 Tooling Arrangement for the Penetration FIG. 4 Macro-etched Sections of
Test Penetration Test Specimens at
High and Low Punch Stroke o
co
\
CO
o
to
6210.KC.8/802
(a) Steel 1 As R eceived
(b) Steel 1/2 Sub-critical Anneal (c) Steel l/7 Intercritical Annea.
.-.tl .' ' . ^-X. f
mim,
(d) Steel 1/12 Normalised (e) Steel 1/13 Normalise & Temper
FIG. 5 Microstructures of Steel 1 (x300)

6210.KC.8/802
1
/
X
(i -\ ' jSV
(f) Steel 1/15 Full Anneal (g) Steel 1/21 Quench & Temper
FIG. 5 (Continued)
(a) Steel 2/l Normalised (b) Steel 2/2 Full Anneal
fe F*
(c) Steel 2/3 Quench & Temper (d) Steel 2/4 Warm Worked

6210.KC.8/802
(b) Steel 3/2 Intercritical

Anneal
(c) Steel 3/3 Full Anneal (d) Steel 3/5 Normalise & Temp
f|f* &
(e) Steel 3/6 Isothermal Trans- (f) Steel 3/8 Quench & Temper
format ion
6210.KC.8/802
^^PhvxM > 7 ^ ? o ^
(a) Steel 4 As Received
W ' lA*fc. **'
(b) Steel 4/2 Sub-critical Anneal (c) Steel 4/5 Intercritical

Anneal + Sub-
critical Anneal
'&.*- -Ws ^f* * ". -^*^T"^<j
:
^ , .. *\.t* >
(d) Steel 4/6 Normalise (e) Steel 4/7 Quench & Temper

6210.KC.8/802
(a) Steel 5 As Received (b) Steel 5/2 Intercritical

Anneal
1000
(c) Steel 5/5 Isothermal Trans- (d) Steel 5/11 Quench & Temper &
formation & Temper Temper

6210.KC.8/802
(a.) Steel 6 As Received
gft
L! 1" ."~! f ir*
>"
<*..
(b) Steel 6/2 Subcritical Anneal (c) Steel 6/3 Intercritical

Anneal
x100
(d) Steel 6/4 Full Anneal (e) Steel 6/8 Quench & Temper
FIG. 10 Microstructures of Steel 6 (30)

6210.KC.8/802
(a) Steel 7 As Received (b) Steel 7/4 Sub-critical

Anneal
(c) Steel 7/5 Isothermal Trans- (d) Steel 7/12 Quench & Temper
formation & Temper

6210.KC.8/802
8o *
te
CO * "" _
u
<
o + -
Spheroidised
fi
c 60 Pearlite
H - -
g Lamellar
Pi Pearlite
4
0 20 40 60 80 100
% Pearlite
FIG. 12 The Relationship Bet-ween Tensile Reduction of Area ai
% Pearlite for Heat Treatments Giving Lamellar and
Spheroidised Pearlite
90
(0
o
c
fi
8
#
o
-
O
fi
70 .
1*
0.02 .4 .6 .
Volume Fraction Fe. C (Calculated)
FIG. 13 The Relationship Between Tensile Reduction of Area

and Volume Fraction of Carbide in Quenched and Temp oi
Specimens
Lamellar Pearlite
+ Spheroidised Pearlite
Spheroidised Carbide J
30 . 'X ,2
iL - " V 7
/

fi ~ 7
rl 20 Spheroidised
O
a Carbide
u

-
cc
0)
c
U * *.
m
10
Spheroidj. sed /
Pearlite
40 80
Reduction of Area %
FIG. 14 The Relationship Between Tensile Reduction of Area and Mean Stroke at
Cracking for Ungrooved Specimens in the Injection Upset Test
^0 -,
X1 \
i 30 \
bO
fi
H
x2\
O *u \
u
CJ
-
CC
s.
20
o
c
-
I
w 7
10 .
O 0.02 0.04 o.o6 0.08
Carbide Volume Fraction (C alculated)
FIG. 15 The Relationship Between Stroke at Cracking for Ungrooved Specimens in the
Injection Upset Test and the Calculated Volume Fraction of Carbides for
Spheroidised Steels
6210.KC.8/802
(a) Steel 1
c
U
-
m
4 Sc 6
c
U
-
co
10
0.3

O . 1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Groove Depth (mm) fi
u
20 (c) S t e e l 3 i (d) Steel 5 (e) Steel 7 ro.6
ft
c
C
0.5 X (0
Ht

74 0.4 c
SH
PH
0.3
0.1 O.2 O O. 1 0.2
Groove Depth (mm)
FIG. l6 The Results for Punch Stroke at C racking Piottod

Against Groove Depth for the Injection Upset Test
0.3
Groove depth(mm) * 0.13 0.38 Groove Depth (mm) 0.I3 O.38
Fully Spheroidised Fully Spheroidised

Spheroidised P e a r l i t e 0 Spheroidised o
Lamellar P e a r l i t e Pearlite
20 Lamellar Pearlite ** ^
20
2
I

2

faO
fi fi
H / H
/
O
(C
U / h 0.2
O / \
' 4 \ .4

(
/ C3

co
7 7 /
V 0) 77
c S >/
0 / C
u \ 5
tf A
co
10 w a
10
V
0.1
0.1 0.2 0.3 200 4oo 600
Maximum Uniform Strain Yield Stress (N/mm 2 ) 0
o
FIG. 17 The Relationship Between Maximum Uniform FIG. 18 The Relationship Between Yield
Strain in the Tensile Test & Mean Stroke Stress in the Tensile Test & CO
\
at Cracking in the Injection Upset Test Mean Stroke at Cracking in the CO
for Grooved Specimens Injection Upset Test for Grooved o
Specimens to
3l7(FR)782 6210.KC.8/802
fi 3

bO
fi
-
U
CQ
(0 co
fi ft .U XI -
to
rd >
U to c c
C
- fi
co C

u
c

fi bO
Q
CM
VD
CA
CM

U
c
<

-

CO
ft

HI
rd
Xi -
fi fi -
(0
! ) (0
ft
2
Q
IA
o rd
o
CM
c3

fe
CM
(tum) SufôBjQ 3.13 o>\ojtq.g
to
to

fi
in
5
rd ft
o
UlA
c CM <
o o C
!
CACO
VO VO CA fi
C rd - P
to
- -
(

- -
res '
)
o -
> 3
(D CA fe
H! C to
d) Hl
c > >
ft ft Ss C
I ft
faO c o o
to
to
rd
3 -
to c
bO
fi -
- C
u c
(0 SH
bO
o SH
'o
9
CM
- ,
-
rd rd

XJ
/ C
5-1 > to
- C
CO C
o

Xi
u

5H
C ft
ft <+ CO
>< (b
ej
o
fe
LA ""
CM Al
(unii) SUTÔBJO q.t? 3i[u.i:jg
6210.KC./02
(a) Steel 1
I 20
17
~fcJ2 0.4 ft
C fi
C
a ra
SH
c . _.,., .PUTIDI 1 nr Pearlite 0.3 -
u CO
Spheroidised Pearlite C
co 5
Spheroidised C arbide ft
10 0.2
.
0 0.2 0.4 0.6

Groove Depth (mm)

rd
U
- (b) Steels 2, 4 & 6
co

fi
I u
H
ft
c
c c
U ft*
co
c
u
ft
ft
<
Groove Depth
. (c) Steel3 (d) Steel 5 (e) Steel 7

O.3
u

10 ft
0.2 c fi.
712 C
rd
5
c .75 74 0. 1 co

5
C
CO U
PH
C) ft
O
o:i 0:20 0.1 O'. 2 <
0 0. 1 o
Groove Depth (mm)
FIG. 21 Results for Punch Stroke at C racking in the

Penetration Test Plotted Against Groove Depth
LO
Hi

]
Groove depth (mm) 0.13 O.38 Tempered at 630C %

m
Tempered. at. 68O
/o OC
S
Fully spheroidised 4 6 ' ^^
>V
0
Spheroidised 0 o 15 Ungrooved CO
Pearlite X' Grooved to
Lamellar Pearlite D
7_ _
. ir
E / 10
r1
E 13 /
t //' fi

fi A
/ '
A
/ o /
cd
fi
O,
a o . _7
rd
<
/
ej
/ / /
: .5
10
C / /
/ 9 / C
fi
A / /
c / co
5 >.;'
CO 11
/
0
- 1
-^ ^ & " ' i ' "
150 200 250,
0.1 0.2
Maximum Uniform Strain Hardness (HV30)
to
Hi
O
F I G . 2 2 The R e l a t i o n s h i p F I G . 23 P u n c h S t r o k e at C r a c k i n g a s a F u n c t i o n of H a r d n e s s
B e t w e e n M e a n S t r o k e at for G r o o v e d a n d U n g r o o v e d , Q u e n c h e d a n d T e m p e r e d o
Cracking & Maximum Uniform S p e c i m e n s in t h e P e n e t r a t i o n T e s t co
S t r a i n in t h e G r o o v e d \
Penetration Test co
O
to
SH 300
4J <
to Injection Upset * Injection Upset
C!
Prediction from
Penetration area of specimen
fi
.-'
-
200
fa Penetration
Prediction from
mean area of punch
and specimen
Xi
rd
c Penetration
H-
Prediction from
0)
area of punch
100
200 400 600 to

Hi
O
Yield Stress in Tensile Test (N/mm )
o

CO
FIG. 24 The Relationship Between the Yield Load in the Cold Forging Test and \
the Yield Stress in Uniaxial Tension CO
o
to
30/o 30/o
0.6 . 0.3 .
(a) Steel Hoop ( b ) S t e e l -H

1/21 fi 0.4 7/4 *
H fi
rd "Axial -
2 CO Axial
0.1 .
tl
'**Hoop
0 o
4 2 0 2 4 0 2 4
Position Position
6o/o 0.4
0.8 6o/o
l
.**""" Hoop
fi
H Axial
* *-
rd
fi 0.4 Axial
5 0.2 . ^^r^%
crj t^r
co fi
Hoop
- I
CO I
/i
t
O c 0 *
--
8 6 4 2 0 1 2 0 4
Position Posit ion
10096
100/
0.8 . Hoop 0.4
fi
Axial
s 0.4 rd
fi 0.2
fi
co ro
co pk
O

o
0

-t 4 - _ 0 - 1 1 1 1
CO
16 4 0 4 2 0 2 \
CO
Position Position o
to
FIG. 25 The S t r a i n D i s t r i b u t i o n i n t h e Formed F l a n g e of Ungrooved I n j e c t i o n Upset

Specimens
20 DO
Stroke (mm) Stroke (mm)

(a) Injection Upset Test (b) Penetration Test o

CO
FIG. 26 The Relationship Between Stroke and Observed Surface Strains at the Potential \
CO
Failure Site o
to
6210.KC.8/802
(a) Steel 1/12
fi
H
rd
5H
-
0.5 co
ft
c
c
^rO
0.5
Axial Strain
(b) S t e e l 7/4
0.4

rd
SH

CO
0.2
ft
C
c
FIG. 27 Detailed Strain Paths for Various Positions on the

Flange of Injection Upset Specimens of Steels 1/1
and 7/4. (The Figures on the C urves Indicate the
Number of Units of Position from the C r e a s e ) .
1-12
,0.8 0.8
1-12
fi fi
H
rd
fi cd
fi

co co
0.4 ft -0.4
o ft
o c
C
-0.8 -0.4 0 -0.8 -0.4 0

Axial Strain Axial Strain
(a) Injection Upset Test (b) Penetration Test
FIG. 28 Strain Paths for Injection Upset and Penetration Test at the Potential Failure
Site
C7\
to
Hi
O
O
210.KC./O2
40J

5 30

3
fe

rd

20
C
5
-
CO
10
0.2 0.4

% C arbon
FIG. 2 9 The Relationship Between Stroke at Failure in the Ungrooved
Injection Upset Test and C arbon C ontent
40

SH
fi-
r-l
H
rd
fe 30
-
rd

c
5
-
CO
20
1.0 1 .5 2.0
Inclusion Projected Length (mm/mm )
30 The Relationship Between Stroke at Failure in the Ungrooved

FIG. e j e c t i o n U pset Test and the Projected Length of Inclusions
6210.KC.8/802
4o.,
30
Normalised Mild Steel l/i2

I
bO
fi
H 20 -

(O
5
O
-
rd (Medium Carbon Low

(Alloy Steels 2 & 4
c
5 (Medium Carbon Higher

CO (Alloy Steel 6
10 - (High Carbon Low Alloy and
(High Alloy Steels 3, 5 & 7
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Groove Depth (mm)
FIG. 31 Summary of the Relationship Between Groove Depth and

Mean Punch Stroke at Failure in the Injection Upset
Test Showing the Effect of Composition
CDNA07617ENC

Cold Forgeability

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,*2~\:-

Commission of the European Communities

technical steel research

Properties and service performance

technical steel research

Properties and service performance

Published by the Directorate-General

1982 EUR 7617 EN

IECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels Luxembourg

Cold forging is a high productivity operation placing

Steels for cold forging applications cover a diverse range

These steels also show relative insensitivity to surface

2.1 Tensile Tests 1

2.3 Cold Forgeability Tests 2

2.3.1 Injection Upset Test 2

2.3.2 Penetration Test 3

2.3.3 Details of Testing Conditions 3

3.1 Steel Composition 4

3.2 Heat Treatments and Microstructures 4

3.2.1 Steel 1 (0.1/o C) 5

3.2.2 Steel 2 (0.2% C) 6

3.2.3 Steel 3 (0.4% C) 6

3.2.4 Steels 4 and 6 (0.l8% C - 0.8% Cr; 7

4.1 Tensile Properties 8

4.2 Cold Forgeability Tests 8

4.2.1 Injection Upset Test 8

4.2.2 Penetration Test 10

4.2.3 Forming Loads 12

4.2.4 Surface Strain Measurements 12

5.1 Heat Treatments I5

5.2 Tensile Properties l6

53 Cold Forgeability Assessment 17

5.4 Forming Loads 20

1. Analyses of Experimental Steels

2. Softening Heat Treatments Used for Low and Medium Carbon

3. Details of Heat Treatments Used

4. General Microstructural Data

6. Hardness Values for Quenched and Tempered Samples

8. Results of Injection Upset Tests

9 Results of Penetration Tests

10. Surface Strain Measurements

1. Tooling arrangement for injection upset test.

2. Macro-etched cross-section of an injection upset specimen

3. Tooling arrangement for the penetration test.

4. Macro-etched sections of penetration test specimens at

10. Microstructures of Steel 6.

11. Microstructures of Steel 7

12. The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

13 The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

l4. The relationship between tensile reduction of area and

15 The relationships between stroke at cracking for un-

l6. The results for punch stroke at cracking plotted against

17 The relationship between maximum uniform strain in the

18. The relationship between yield strength and mean stroke

19. Pimeli stroke at cracking as a function of hardness for

21. Results for punch stroke at cracking in the penetration

22. The relationship between mean stroke at cracking and

23 Punch stroke at cracking as a function of hardness for

24. The relationship between the yield load in the cold

25. The strain distribution in the formed flange of ungrooved

26. The relationship between stroke and observed surface

27. Detailed strain paths for various positions on the flange

28. Strain paths for injection upset and penetration tests at

29 The relationship between stroke at failure in the un-