3D FEA simulation of 4A11 piston skirt isothermal forging process

To eliminate the defects during piston skirt isothermal forming process, simulations under different process parameters such as the deformation temperature and friction factor were analyzed with the rigid-plastic FEA. Deformation pattern, metal flow and influence of process parameters were concluded. The prediction load value with a relative error of 4.98% is more accurate to the testing one than that from the empirical formula whose relative error is up to 50.8%. Finally, based on the simulation results, an improved process at 300 °C and 0.005–0.05 s−1 was verified without any defects by the physical try-out.