Use of UBET for design of flash gap in closed-die forging

An upper bound elemental technique (UBET) has been proposed for the design of the flash gap in closed-die forging operations of axisymmetric shapes. The developed method has been applied to analyze the forging load, die-cavity filling, and effective strain and strain rate distributions in axisymmetric closed-die forging with a rib-web type of cavity. The forging process has been superimposed with two sub-stages called the extrusion and the back-fill stages. The total die load required for extrusion and back fill are calculated separately and a maximum allowable extrusion gap is proposed for a given percentage die-fill. FEM simulations have been carried out with different die geometries and the results are in good agreement with UBET predictions.