Many of the North American forging industry’s technical elite gathered within sight of Cleveland, Ohio’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and across the street from the site of the city’s future Medical Mart to review and discuss technical developments within the industry during the past 18 months.  Some forging-industry professionals from Europe were also in attendance to present papers.

Although FIERF technical oversight committees met during the morning hours of Sept. 10 to discuss business matters, the conference’s formal technical program did not begin until the afternoon.  After a brief welcome from Forging Industry Association (FIA) Executive Vice President Roy Hardy, the technical program officially began.

The technical sessions would last for a day and a half, but on Tuesday morning attendees could choose from two separate session tracks, which were held concurrently – an organizational first for this event. There was an R&D track for theoretical and conceptual topics and an Applied Technology track that covered actual manufacturing and production topics. The opening technical session and the Tuesday-afternoon technical session were joint sessions that included all participants. The full programs are given in the sidebars accompanying this article.

There were also three informal discussion roundtables in which attendees selected one to attend and address issues related to the individual topics. The roundtable topics were: Temperature Measurement Devices, Ways to Address Cracking Issues in Frames and Preconditioning/Preheating of Dies. Brief reviews from the discussion roundtables were orally presented to attendees at the end of the technical session on Tuesday afternoon.

The table-top exhibits, which remained closed during the technical sessions, were held in a room adjacent to the technical sessions. The exhibition area was set up to accommodate light meals and beverage service, over which exhibitors and attendees could relax, discuss business, renew friendships and make connections with colleagues.

Three student-posted session topics were also presented in the exhibit hall. 

These topics included:

•  Mathematical Model for Optimizing Compressive Prestresses in Forging Die Assemblies by Colin Russell, MSP Industries (American Axle) and Kettering University

•  Mechanical Properties of Hot Forging Die Steels at Working Temperaturesby S. Giskaas, P.C. Wolfram, B.S. Levy and Prof. Chet Van Tyne, Colorado School of Mines

•  Microstructure Evolution in Incoloy 945 During Hot Deformation by Edward Wolfram, Shane Giskaas and Prof. Kip Findley of the Colorado School of Mines

On the conference’s third and final day, The Timken Company was gracious enough to host a group of attendees on a tour of its facilities in Canton, Ohio. The Timken Company is a leading global manufacturer of highly engineered bearings, alloy steels and related components and assemblies.

FIERF’s 29^th Technical Conference – the Numbers in a Nutshell

169People in attendance, including industry representatives, speakers, exhibitors and staff. 35Technical papers presented by 40speakers. 19Table-top exhibitors.104Organizations were represented at the event, including 11academic institutions.

Papers on the following topics were presented to the full conference on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11.

•  Research Trends at Oak Ridge National Laboratory,William Peter, ORNL

•  Recent Research Activities in France, Fabrice Chevaleyre, French Forging Association

•   Update on Trials with OG Technologies Optical Caliber Instruments at Ellwood City Forge,Marc Panaia, Ellwood Mill Products

•  Scale-Free Heating, Dave Toocheck, Bloom Engineering

•  Implementation of Infrared Heating Technology, Rob Mayer, The Queen City Forging Company

•  FIERF Sponsored Research: Industry-Sponsored Senior Design Projects at Cal Poly, Blair London, California Polytechnic State University

•  FIERF Sponsored Research: Options to Minimize Distortion in Thin-Walled Forgings, Prabir Chaudhury, Education and Consulting LLC

•  FIERF Sponsored Research: Vanadium, Aluminum and Nitrogen Interactions in Microalloyed Forging Steels,Chet Van Tyne, Colorado School of Mines

•  FIERF Sponsored Research: Heat Treating Optimization of Forged Ti-6Al-4V Components,Tim Soucek, Wyman Gordon Forgings, and David Schwam, Case Western Reserve University

•  FIERF Sponsored Research: Investigation of Surface Roughness and Lay on Metal Flow in Hot Forging,David Nowak, Marquette University

•  Manufacturing of Contoured and Complex Open Die Forgings, Matt Mitchell, Weber Metals

•  Factors to Consider When Working to Reduce Cost of Warm and Hot Forging Tools, Dilmar Ribeiro, American Axle & Manufacturing

•  Analysis of Ring Rolling Processes Using Computational Tools, Omar Saldivar Rodriguez, FRISA Forjados

•  Case Study: Resolving Forming Problems on Large Gears, Ernie Gibson, Canton Drop Forge

•  Tempering Resistance and Elevated Temperature Mechanical Properties of Forging Die Steels and the Relationship to Forging Die Life, Guy Brada, A. Finkl & Sons

Dual Sessions

Conference attendees had their choice of two program tracks at Tuesday’s morning sessions – R&D track and Applied Technology track.

R&D Track

•   Simulating Grain Size in Nickel Alloy Forgings,John Walters, Scientific Forming Technologies Corp.

•   Enhancement of Process Limits of Cup Extrusion by Application of Automatic Controlled Additional Tool Axes, Christian Mletko, Institute for Metal Forming Technology, University of Stuttgart, Germany

•   Multi-Scale Analysis of Void Closure During Hot Forming Processes,Pierre-Olivier Bouchard, Paris School of Mines, France

•   Recent Inventions and Innovations in Induction Billet Heating, Valery Rudnev, Inductoheat Inc.

•   Enhanced Capability of Simulation Tools -- A Pioneer Approach to Simulate Real Process Behavior,Ralph Bernardt, Simufact Engineering

•   Research Advancements in Thermoprocessing, George Pfaffmann, Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic Corp.

•   Prevention of Quench Cracking in Large Section Sizes,Kyle Rackers, Scot Forge Co.

•   On the Potential to Exploit Reduced-Cost Titanium Powder for Forging Preforms, Peter Collins, Univeristy of North Texas

Table-top Exhibitors

The following companies and organizations supported the conference with table top exhibits:

•  Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic Corp.;Warren, Ohio

•  American GFM Corporation; Chesapeake, Va.

•  American Iron & Steel Institute; Southfield, Mich.

•  Campbell Press & Hammer Repair; Lansing, Mich.

•  Condat Corporation;Saline, Mich.

•  Dango & Dienenthal Inc.;Alliance, Ohio

•  Dynamic Surface Technologies; Canton, Mich.

•  FORGE Magazine; Pittsburgh, Pa.

•  Forging Industry Association;Cleveland, Ohio

•  Girard Engineering, Inc.;Strongsville, Ohio

•  Inductoheat Inc.; Madison Heights, Mich.

•  Interpower Induction USA; Almont, Mich.

•  Lasco Engineering Services;Monroe, Mich.

•  Prince Minerals Inc.;Dublin, Ohio

•  QForm/Forge Technology Inc.;Woodstock, Ill.

•  Schuler Group;Canton, Mich.

•  Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation; Columbus, Ohio

•  Simufact-Americas, LLC; Plymouth, Mich.

•  Steel Market Development Institute; Southfield, Mich.

•  Transvalor Americas Corp.; Chicago, Ill.