Effective remanufacturing of Forging Tools

Purpose and goal:

Wear and plastic deformation is the most damaging mechanism for forging tools compared to other damage mechanisms such as mechanical and thermal cracking. After a certain service time, the tool must be repaired in order to be used again, and the number of such use and repair cycles depends on the type of repair process. Aiming to achieve longer tool life, this study focuses on investigating the wear mechanism to delay the wear process and to investigate the use of a combination of additive manufacturing and machining.

Expected results and effects:

The results from this project, i.e., insights to the wear process of the hot forging, FE simulation model validation, assessment of applicable repair methods are intended to provide ground work for a bigger project. The project technical activities conducted and the results obtained are described in the attached Technical Report.

Approach and implementation:

The project is conducted using the resources available at KTH, RISE and Forgex AB. KTH verifies the material properties applicable to FE simulation model and built the model. while RISE conducted measurments of hardness, residual stress and geometry of the tool abefore and after use as well as repair. The time plan was fulfilled quite well without delays despite several back and fro sending the tool for measurments. Meetings were conducted regularly every other week and for sometimes as needed.