Precision hot forging forming experiment and numerical simulation of a railway wagon bogie adapter

A pre-forging–final forging near-net forming process was proposed after process analysis because of the complex structure and difficult forming characteristics of railway wagon bogie adapter parts, and the forming operation was designed and optimized. The finite element method is used to simulate the forging process of the adapter, and the important field distribution laws, such as temperature field, equivalent stress field, and stroke load, during the forging process are systematically analyzed. The defects in the forging process are predicted. The magnitude of the final-forging force and the difference between the actual volume of the forging and the ideal volume are proposed as the evaluation indexes of the forming accuracy of the railway wagon bogie adapter forgings. Moreover, the influencing law of the interaction between the preheating temperature of the workpiece, the die forging speed, and the friction factor on the forming quality of the railway wagon bogie adapter are studied. Finite element analytical results show that the best process parameters obtained are used in the actual forging production, and the forgings obtained have well-defined levels in each region and excellent forming quality. The experiment verifies that the forging is completely formed under the optimized process parameters and meets the product requirements, thereby providing theoretical and technological guidance for hot-die forging of railway wagon bogie adapter parts.