NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE HOOK FORGING PROCESS

The paper is focused on analysis and optimization of the jaw turnout lock hook forging process, which is used in rail transport. It is forged from 37MnSi5 steel in Kralovopolska LLC. Currently, a fold occasionally occur in the inner side of curved part formation during the forging process, which leads to possible cracks in the finished forged part in some cases. Therefore, optimized semi-finished product size and tool geometry is proposed and subsequently verified by numerical simulation using Simufact Forming software. Before the actual optimization, an accuracy of the simulation is verified by analyzing of the current state and comparing simulation results with the real state.