The finite element method is often used in obtaining the parameters of process design in the practical forging processes and in other mechanical working processes. However, it is somewhat difficult for an engineer to apply the fundamental results of finite element analysis such as effective strain and stress distributions to metal forming process designs. Therefor in the post-processor, the functions to convert such data to familiar mechanical properties resulting from plastic deformation are required.
The present work is concerned with the development of a post-processor in the axisymmetric finite element analysis for personal computers by using object-oriented programming, which enables safer and easier programming. With this developed post-processor, the predicted mechanical properties such as, hardness, ductile fracture, fiber flow characteristics of products and wear amount of dies are presented as process design parameters.
Backward extrusion and multi-state pin forming process are chosen in order to examine the effectiveness of the post-processor, and the results have shown that it has helped to understand the characteristics of each forming process with visualized and quantified physical information, resulting in better utilization of finite element analysis in the integrated CAD/CAM/CAE process.
