Numerical modeling of electrical upsetting manufacturing processes based on Forge® environment

Abstract : The present work reviews the latest developments done within Forge®, finite element numerical simulation software for all bulk metal forming processes, to deal with electric processing of materials. We present a complete parallel finite-element coupled Electrical-Thermal-Mechanical model for two-dimensional and three-dimensional electro forming applications. The electro-thermal modeling is considered by sequential-coupling in which the Joule heating term computed from the electric resolution is used as a source term for the thermal problem. For the experimental comparison we use an electric upsetting forming case developed at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. The forming process consists in a closed die hot forging case in which an electric current is passed through the billet to heat it up. At the same time, it is deformed by an applied pressure on the billets end surface. We compare the experimental set-up with 2D and 3D numerical simulations.