The study concerns a comprehensive analysis of a multistage hot-die forging on hammers, in order to produce a yoke-type forging, used as a component of excavator power transmission systems. The investigations were conducted with the aim to analyze and identify the sensitive areas in the process and then improve the currently implemented forging technology by using finite element (FE) simulation. QuantorForm (the developer of the QForm program) has developed a thermomechanical numerical model for the production of forked forging. The software Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) was used to develop and build Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models of forging tools. As a result of the numerical simulations, the plastic deformations and temperature distributions for the forgings and tools were obtained, and the force courses during the forging process were analyzed. The obtained results enabled a thorough analysis of the forging process, including identification of potential forging defects (laps) as well as those tool areas that are the most loaded and exposed to damage. On this basis, changes were implemented in the production process, which allowed for the improvement of the currently implemented technology and obtaining the corrected forgings.

In this paper, the heat generated during deformation under the static testing of high-manganese TWIP steel with addition of niobium was determined. The research combined the interaction of heat generated during deformation, mechanical properties, hardness and microstructure. Temperature and strain were measured simultaneously using infrared (IR) thermography and digital image correlation (DIC) method. The average temperature measured at the necked region equals 42°C at the strain rate of 0.001 s−1 and exceeds 100°C at 0.5 s−1. Therefore at large strains, a reduction in stress was observed. The course of the hardness change coincides very well with the strain changes, however, at the strain rate of 0.5 s−1 near to the necking area the hardness equals to 360 HV2, whereas at the lower strain rates it equals to 370 HV2. These changes are connected mainly with increase in temperature to >100°C

The TWIP (Twinning Induced Plasticity) steels are one of the most promising materials in reducing the weight of vehicles. Despite a lot of research on TWIP steel, there are some issues that are not explained enough. Due to the future use of TWIP steel and the manufacturing of the final part by metal forming, three issues still need to be clarified. The first one, which is the most important, is the increase of the temperature due to the conversion of the deformation work into heat. TWIP steel has a high limit strain, strength and lower conductivity than conventional steel, therefore the heat generation of TWIP steel is greater than for other materials. The second and third issues are combined. They concern the influence of V microadditions on the stress–strain curves, the strain hardening coefficient n and the strain rate sensitivity coefficient m under cold deformation conditions. These properties determine the cold formability of TWIP steels. In the research, two TWIP steels were used with and without V microadditions (MnAl and MnAl-V steel). The special methodology using strain and temperature measurement systems as well as light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied. Research shows a significant increase of the temperature in the material due to high plastic deformations as well as a high level of yield stress. In the neck area, for the highest strain rate of 0,1 s -1, at the moment of rupture, the temperature reaches more than 200 °C. The difference between the average temperature in the rupture area and the maximum temperature is equal to 100° C. Its high increase can lead e.g. to changes in the deformation mechanism from twinning to dislocation gliding, which is also connected with a worsened workability, and thus also energy consumption of the bodywork elements. MnAl-V steel has better or similar ductility for the deep drawing in comparison to MnAl steel at low strain rates for almost isothermal conditions (constant temperature during deformation). However the MnAl steel has better ductility for the larger strain rates over 0.1 s−1 then there is large heat concentration in a very narrow area for MnAl-V steel. The obtained results are very important from an application point of view. The strain rate sensitivity coefficient m of the steel MnAl has very low, and even negative, values, which can make the production of complicated drawpieces difficult. Higher values of the strain rate sensitivity coefficient are exhibited by steel MnAl-V, i.e. at the level of 0,05, which is almost constant in the whole range of the obtained deformations.