Dynamic effects during sinter forging of axi-symmetric hollow disc preforms

The present paper reports an investigation on the dynamic effects during sinter forging of axi-symmetric hollow disc preforms at room temperature. The preforms have been prepared by compacting the copper metal powder within the closed-cavity circular compaction dies and experiments have been conducted on computer-controlled hydraulic press to investigate the effect of die velocity, i.e. dynamic effects on various deformation characteristics, e.g. flow of material, densification during dry and lubricated interfacial friction conditions, bulging and strains at preform-free surfaces and die loads. The theoretical analysis for die pressure distribution, average die load and bulged profile by ‘upper bound’ approach has been presented. The identification of critical sinter-forging characteristics and their interrelationships are the cornerstones of present study. The effect of die velocity along with other deformation characteristics on die load and inertia energy dissipation has been investigated critically using ‘design of experiment’ technique and the important interactions have been displayed graphically using ‘response surface methodology’ technique. The study on dynamic effects revealed that die velocity is the most critical factor during sinter-forging operations, especially at higher die speeds and hence, inertia energy must be considered during its analysis. The experimental and theoretical results have been found in close agreement with each other and it is expected that the work will be highly useful for the assessment of various deformation characteristics during processing of sintered materials.