09:00 NOCARBforging 2050 – steps towards a carbon neutral and sustainable forging industry09:00 - 09:30Hans-Willi Raedt - prosimalys GmbH

The Kyoto protocol from 1997 and the Paris Climate Agreement dated 2012 are coming into life. With the European Green Deal communicated in 2019, an action plan has been published which will set the political, societal and economic boundary conditions towards an economy with zero net emissions of green house gases, mainly CO₂. The transition of these goals into industrial practice can be viewed in statements of e.g. board members of car makers, indicating that besides the price of a component, the CO₂e-emissions will become relevant for sourcing decisions. Financing institution are changing their policy towards favouring companies that support sustainability. Even though it can be expected that this will take a while until it becomes daily routine, it is high time to start actions to be able to calculate the CO₂e-emissions of one’s products as well as to start the process to reduce these emissions.

As this is a challenge which many companies are facing equally, it makes sense to unite forces and cooperate on the level of the industry association. Consequently, German Forging Association IMU has started the project NOCARBforging 2050. The project is made up of two parts.

Part 1 is multilaterally financed by more than 50 participating companies. In this phase a tool for calculating CO₂e-emissions (CO₂ and CO₂-equivalent warming potential of other green house gases) for forged products following ISO 14067 has been created. This was achieved by contributions of all stakeholders from the full process chain of forged products: Steel and aluminium makers, forging companies, heat treatment suppliers as well as companies supplying equipment for billet making, presses, furnaces and surface treatment. The Forging Footprint Reduction Tool FRED has been presented in July 2021 and development has continued since.

Part 2 of NOCARBforging2050 is intended to collect ideas for CO₂-reduction and to start subsequent projects. Here, industry from the above mentioned spectrum and academic partners will join forces, create ideas for CO₂e reduction for a concrete selection of forgings and will generate ideas for research projects that can expect federal funding, too. This part has been initiated in November 2021 with a workshop EMMA: “Emissionsfreie Massivumformung” (emission free forging).

This conFAIR contribution will present results from both parts of the NOCARBforging 2050 project, including numerous approaches how to reduce CO₂e in the production of forged products.

09:30 A review of the wear mechanisms of the hot forging tools09:30 - 10:00Zbigniew Gronostajski - Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

The research done so far has shown that the main mechanisms responsible for the degradation of the tools in warm and hot forging processes are: abrasive wear, thermomechanical fatigue, plastic deformations, fatigue cracking, adhesive wear and oxidation. According to the presented research the commonly accepted view is that abrasive wear is the dominant mechanism in the degradation of the dies in hot forging.

Most of the reported research on wear deals with abrasive wear, whereas studies have clearly shown that in forging processes thermomechanical fatigue, very quickly resulting in fine cracks, is the most adverse factor. The further development of the cracks depends on the process parameters, the interaction between the die and the forging, the rate of material flow and in most cases results in a secondary network of cracks extending over the whole contact surface.

There are a lot of parameters including shape of die, hardness, contact time, sliding distance, material die, billet temperature, lubrication etc. which intensify or limit the degradation mechanisms; however, in authors’ opinion the cooling by lubrication and temperature are the most crucial. The schemas of degradation mechanisms of the die are proposed for different temperatures and lubrication.

10:00 MiViA - Use of AI-assisted microstructure analysis in the production of steel components10:00 - 10:30Rahman Rostami - TU Bergakademie Freiberg

In order to ensure the commercial quality of metallic semi-finished and finished products, they are analyzed at various stages of the production chain. MiViA's business concept addresses this existing need and offers an excellent solution with establishing a self-learning autonomous microstructure analysis system for metallic materials in combination with a database for metallographic micrographs (initially for steel with a future perspective also for e.g. titanium, copper and aluminum). Due to its reproducibility and testing stability, the system can also be integrated into customers' Industry 4.0 concepts and thus used for digital control and monitoring of production, resulting in further cost and quality advantages compared with manual microstructure analysis. Particularly in the area of steel component production, such as in the forging industry, customers benefit by avoiding production downtimes, rejects and complaints thanks to MiViA's autonomous microstructure analysis.

11:00 Acciaierie Bertoli Safau Centre - ABSBAIN Steels: New Comers in the Wide Bainitic and Micro-Alloyed Steels Family. Case Study of Applicability of Quenching and Partitioning on Hot Forged Components11:00 - 11:30Christophe Stocky - Acciaierie Bertoli Safau Centre

For half a century, so-called bainitic structure steels have been developed in order to offer an alternative to micro-alloyed forging steels. In both cases, the objective is the same: to replace quenched and tempered steels which are more expensive and energy-consuming. Quenching and tempering is also an additional source of greenhouse gas (GHG). If bainitic steels are presented as an interesting alternative, they present, like ferrite perlite micro-alloyed steels, for some characteristics lower values than quenched and tempered steels. Until now, for hot forged components, the use of solutions without heat treatment was synonymous with “controlled” cooling (“natural” cooling in calm air, forced air or even cooling followed by isothermal holding after forging). But in comparison to quenched and tempered martensitic solutions, the limit of use of this type of structure obtained by natural cooling is often expressed during a Charpy-type impact test. However, in parallel with these difficulties, the reduction of GHGs is becoming more and more essential and the increase in mechanical characteristics remains a relevant strategy that would allow aditional downsizing of the forged components and it should be reconsidered in regards to the fatigue behavior which is similar to quenched tempered steels. For twenty years, several authors have demonstrated the virtues of a quenching and partitioning treatment (subsequently called QP) which makes it possible to obtain a mixed structure with a less brittle martensite and a fine bainitic structure with a morphology favoring ductility properties. Besides a review of market solutions, presentation of our solutions, we will discuss the applicability of an eventual in-line QP treatment for forged components.

11:30 ASİL ÇELİK - SIMULATION SUPPORTED MATERIAL AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT: FROM PILOT SCALE TO INDUSTRIAL IMPLEMENTATION11:30 - 12:00Arcan F. Dericioglu - Asil Çelik A.Ş.

Variety in engineering applications with continuously increasing performance demand forces producers to develop novel and/or improved material solutions. In addition to these challenging material property expectations, worldwide energy crisis and greenhouse gas reduction requirements pushes producers to optimize their processes simultaneously. Both material and process development require a simulation supported methodology which should be started from pilot scale and extended to industrial scale. At Asil Çelik, in addition to continuous casting, ingot casting is being used to produce various steel grades, especially special grades such as tool steels, which can also be further refined by Electroslag Remelting (ESR) and then thermomechanically shaped by either rolling or open die forging. Consequently, a wide variety of ingots in terms of size and geometry are being produced at Asil Çelik, which makes ingot mold design and process parameter optimization efforts compulsory. Moreover, research and development activities are also focusing towards modification of special steel grades along with novel alloy design for improved material performance and reduced cost. In this talk, first results of simulation supported ingot casting optimization studies will be discussed. Next, in the scope of material development activities, results of two case studies comprising of chemical composition modification of a hot work tool steel grade and design of a novel low carbon bainitic (LCB) steel will be presented.

12:00 Lightweight efforts on heavy duty forging applications 12:00 - 12:30Gürbüz Güzey - Parsan

Lightweight design has been a major topic in the mobility sector for a long time. This applies to forged components, too, which can be found in the powertrain, in the chassis and in other highly loaded application areas. However, heavy duty applications seem to have had a lower motivation in the past to implement lightweight solutions than the passenger car sector. This might be changing in future, due to two reasons. On the one hand, the aim for lower fuel consumption (which might by hydrogen or electric energy, too) demands a lower vehicle weight, which is especially important for high mileage applications like truck. On the other hand, there is a demand for lowering CO₂-emissions during production. If a lighter component can fulfil the demands of the application, minimized material input, which leads to CO₂-savings, may be achieved, depending on manufacturing technology.

Hollow shafts are a good example for efficient lightweight design. Deformation and stresses due to torque and bending increase only minimally when the shaft becomes hollow. Depending on available assembly space, a slight increase of the outer diameter can compensate for the hollow center. These relationships can be shown with some elementary calculations.

For hollow shafts but also for other components like I-beams for truck axles, improved steels with higher yield and tensile strength can be used to increase the fatigue limit. When using higher strength steels, it becomes increasingly important to closely control the inclusion status of the steel as well as the surface quality of the component. For higher demands in component fatigue or lightweight needs, processes to increase the compressive residual stresses on the surface can be used. This can be shot blasting (usually applied for cleaning, but already very useful to induce compressive stresses), shot peening or even heat treatment operations like induction hardening or nitriding.

When developing lightweight components, the design of the part and the choice of manufacturing processes must be strongly interlinked. Leading forging companies are able to execute the component engineering including the validation in-house or with partners, so that an optimum solution can be found with minimum communication interfaces.

12:30 High Mn-Al steel for production of forged components featured by high strength and ductility12:30 - 13:00Giacomo Villa– Politecnico di Milano

High Mn-Al steels are a significant opportunity for the production of high resistant components in the light-weight perspective. Actually, the Al addition decreases the density of steel but if compared to other high strength steels these new grades point out also a high toughness and ductility at room temperature increasing the safety for the users. The combination of mechanical properties of this steel grades makes them resemble the properties of more expensive alloys i.e. Titanium alloys. The final microstructure is dual phase (ferrite-austenite) and is influenced significantly by plastic deformation and by the imposed thermal cycle that rule the precipitation of strengthening carbides and intermetallic phases. A large possibility to modulate the properties exists in order to fit the requirements of designers and users.

14:00 SMS group GmbH - Production Part Tracing Along The Forging Process Chain14:00 - 14:30Martin Gerhard Scholles - SMS group GmbH

Measure, record, and verify the carbon footprint for every forging with a precise CO2 value. Instead of major recall campaigns, quality issues can now be narrowed down to just a few individual forged products to facilitate the root cause analysis. Identify new optimization potential along the entire process and value chain. Those are the key benefits of iForge Traceability for closed-die forging.
As an essential element of Digitalization and Industrie 4.0, SMS group has developed a strategy and the related process for complete traceability of individual forgings along the overall closed-die forging process chain to ensure that all production, material and quality data being acquired during the process will be stored and linked to the specific production part. Product traceability is the key to building a closed loop with integrated condition and quality checks within and between each process step.

14:30 Acciaierie Venete S.p.A. - Influence of Different Final Electromagnetic Stirrer (F-EMS) Parameters on Internal Quality of Continuous Casting Products14:30 - 15:00Riccardo Ottini - Acciaierie Venete S.p.A.

In continuous casting steelmaking, a growing demand for better quality products set new challenges in ensuring excellent properties in cast steel. This is especially true for long products either intended for rolling or for heavy forging. The most important quality indicators (QIs) for long products such as blooms, billets and rolled bars are internal chemical homogeneity, absence of pinholes and blowholes as well as surface, subsurface and internal cracks, lack of centreline segregation, centre porosity and V segregation.
All the aforementioned features can be achieved through the correct management of the process parameters of the continuous casting machine. Specifically, a proper electromagnetic stirring in optimal positions of the metallurgical length of cast product helps to reach a better solidification structure: acting in the mould (M-EMS), lower in the strand (S-EMS) and towards the end of the metallurgical length (F-EMS).
The aim of this research work is to present the introduction and optimization of the correct parameters for the control of F-EMS recently installed on the large round sections - three strands - continuous casting machine (for heavy sections blooms, i.e., from ø350 mm to ø600 mm) in the Padua plant of Acciaierie Venete group. In particular, two cases are here described: for as-cast materials a medium carbon steel (42CrMo4) cast in round section ø420 mm, while for rolled material a high carbon steel (100Cr6) cast in round section ø500 mm and rolled in final section ø120 mm. The technological parameters of the F-EMS that have been adjusted are current (A), frequency (Hz) and rotational direction (one way or alternate mode). The products have been ranked using macro-etching examinations (both parallel and perpendicular to casting direction) and chemical analysis (OES-PDA and combustion elemental analysis). Finally, thanks to the illustrated experimental results, it has been possible to identify the best operational set-up to apply.

15:30 MEASURING HOT PARTS – A CONDITION EVALUATION15:30 - 16:00Michael Marré - Fachhochschule Südwestfalen

Quality properties of forged parts are of paramount importance in manufacturing. Already at part creation, quality must be closely controlled. A massive reduction of scrap rates is achieved only when part and process properties are quickly determined and necessary counter measures subsequently initiated. As a result of our research activities, we invented equipment and methods to measure the dimensions of hot parts forged moments before, including a forecast of the part’s measurement once fully cooled down.

The presentation will guide you through the fundamentals of hot measurement by introducing you to the set-up of a hot measurement device. Examples of measurement tasks and the quality of the results will be provided in connection with a business scenario for the forging industry.

16:00 Introducing data analytics in hot forging 16:00 - 16:30Javier Arribas & Jon Jubin - Alcorta Forging Group

Hot forging is in continuous developing, passing in a few years from having manual processes to fully automatic forging lines. Simulation has also become essential between the forging companies since last decade. And now is time to go ahead with the next challenge: INTRODUCTION OF DATA ANALYTICS IN HOT FORGING.

Benefits of a fully sensorized forging process will be studied, trying to understand, analyze, predict and correct all the process deviations. Every captured data is helpful to reduce the manufacturing variability and useful for productivity and quality improvements.

Data analytics, necessary step to remain forging companies competitiveness in a global market, always offering the maximum guarantee of quality to their customers.

16:30 Industrial 4.0 digitalization in 5G era16:30 - 17:00Tiago Rodrigues - Wireless Broadband Alliance

5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E advanced capabilities are opening unparallel opportunities for the industrial sector to increase overall productivity and manufacturing quality, to reduce the cost of goods and to improve enterprise access security.

The first Wi-Fi 6 & 6E trial for the Industrial 4.0 and Internet of Things (IIoT) took place in the UK, as Mettis Aerospace Ltd. explores advanced use cases involving augmented reality (AR), multi-stream live video monitoring, real-time energy monitoring and ultra-reliable, low-latency sensors on critical systems to augment the 5G ecosystem.

Learn how Mettis, a producer of precision-forged, machined components for companies like Airbus, Boeing and Rolls-Royce, has embraced the Industrial 4.0 Digital Transformation to improve productivity in a challenging manufacturing environment, in partnership with companies including Cisco, Broadcom, Intel and BT.

Gain insight into the benefits of Wi-Fi 6/6E and 5G convergence for complex IoT environments that have multiple access technologies, especially those that traditionally have presented challenges for deploying wireless technologies.