Investigating the effect of flash gutter geometry on material flow and defect formation in cold forging of AA 3003 Aluminum alloy

The aim of this study, is study on the effects of flash gutter geometry on the material flow, predict of defect formation and forging process parameters in cold forging. For this purpose, effects of three flash geometry with trapezoidal, oval and square shapes were investigated on the simple frustum part. The effect of flash gutter geometry simulated using ABAQUS finite element software and then form with the optimized flash gutter was manufactured and forging process to verify the simulation results on a piece of AA3003aluminum alloy, was carried out. The results showed that trapezoidal flash gutter had more appropriate conditions for material flow than other cases. According to the simulation results, the maximum plastic strain was formed around the flash area and its value was maximum in the die with trapezoidal flash gutter, which was due to the greater flow of the material in the trapezoidal flash gutter geometry. According to the simulation results prediction, the distribution and exerted applied pressure to produce the final part on die with square flash gutter was more than others. The maximum applied pressure was on the flash area of die, which was the largest for the square flash gutter, and had the smallest amount of trapezoidal flash gutter geometry.