The Inn at St. Johns in Plymouth, Mich., was the site of this multi-faceted conference that brought some of the industry’s best technical people together to exchange ideas and present updated technologies.

In Sept. 8-9, about 185 forging-industry professionals, suppliers, academics and students gathered in Plymouth, Mich., to catch up on 18 months of technical developments. Most attendees were from North America, though some European forging professionals were on hand to present their papers.

    Although Forging Foundation technical oversight committees met during the morning of Sept. 8 to discuss business matters, the conference’s formal sessions did not begin until that afternoon. After a welcome from FIA President Roy Hardy, who covered the state of the forging industry, and an additional welcome from Dr. Valery Rudnev (aka Professor Induction), chairman of the Technical Committee, the formal technical program began.

Technical Sessions

For the entire two-day conference there were two afternoon sessions and one morning session, during which 31 papers were presented. A total of about 17 hours of technical presentations were given in approximately 20-minute segments.

    The first technical session focused primarily on Forging Foundation-sponsored research on topics ranging from additive manufacturing to temperature measurement (see the sidebar on the Technical Program).

    On the second and final day of technical papers, the morning session was split into two tracks held concurrently: Track A concentrated on R&D activities, and Track B was about Applied Technology. Attendees were free to alternate between tracks according to their interests and needs.

    The afternoon session of the second day was another joint session that contained papers on an assortment of topics.

Exhibits

Tabletop exhibits from 26 different organizations were on display in the Grand Ballroom of the Inn at St. Johns. All meals and break-time refreshments were served in the exhibit area so that attendees could mix and socialize with colleagues, discuss business, renew friendships, make new ones and view the tabletop displays at their leisure (and on a full stomach or with beverage in hand).  About five hours of break and meal time were spent in the exhibit area during the entire conference.

Student Participation

Of the many positive aspects of the Tech Conference, one of the most encouraging was the participation of several undergraduate and graduate students in delivering papers to attendees.

    In addition, a poster session in the exhibit hall on the final day featured two student projects from the Colorado School of Mines. The first, called Processing Maps for the Analysis of Hot Workability of Two Microalloyed Steels, was by R.S. Septimio, S.T. Button and C.J. Van Tyne. The second poster was titled Cooling Behavior of Microalloyed Forging Steels by Sami Syammach, Kip O. Findley and C.J. Van Tyne.

FIA Technical Conference Program

Welcome and Overview of the State of the Industry

Roy Hardy,FIA President

Welcome

Valery Rudnev, Inductoheat and Chairman of the FIA Technical Committee

FIA & FIERF Activities

Karen Lewis and Carola Sekreter,FIA and FIERF

Guidelines for Warm Forming of Steel Parts*

Taylan Altan, Adam Groseclose and Xi Yang

Best Practices in Temperature Measurement on the Shop Floor*

Justin Kurk, Marquette University

Centerline Defect Closure Analysis for Open Die Forgings*

Suhasini Gangatirkar

Improving Forging Tooling Performance and Durability by Additive Manufacturing Cladding and Repair*

David Schwam,Case Western Reserve University

Evaluation of Die Heating Methods*

Natalie Pohlmann, Michigan Technological University

Role of AlN During Hot Fracture of In-Situ Melted Steel Samples*

Brendan Connolly, University of Pittsburgh and Ellwood Group, Inc.

Recent Trends in Forging Steels

Chester Van Tyne, Colorado School of Mines and Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center

* Forging Foundation-sponsored research

R&D - Track A

Design of Experiments and Optimization in Process Simulation

John Walters, Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation

Combining Computer Modeling and Process Data Acquisition for Forge Furnace Optimization

Justin Dzik, Fives North American Combustion

Holistic Modeling of the Entire Forging Process from Initial Heating to Final In-Use Properties

Harihar Sistla, Transvalor Americas Corp.

FEA Simulation to Predict Individual Press Column Forces for a Closed Die Hot Forging Process on a 4,000 ton Mechanical Press

Laser Surface Treatment Technologies for Tooling

D. Heinen and K. Arntz,Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

Hybrid Simulation Techniques Utilizing Finite Element Mesh and Voronoi Cells

Nikolay Biba,Quantor-Form LTD

Simultaneous Five-Axis Milling to Increase Efficiency when Machining Titanium and Nickel-Based Alloys

K. Arntz, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

Aging Behavior of Extruded and Forged 2195 Al-Li Alloy

Blair London, California Polytechnic State University

Polymeric Forging Lubricant: A New Class of Die Lubricants

Tom Camel, Cross Technologies Group Inc.

3D Laser Scanners for Forging and Die Inspection

Marty Hausermann, Hausermann Die & Machine Co.

Press Maintenance: How to Prepare for the Unknown

Pete Campbell, Campbell Press Repair

Pre-Forming by Cross Wedge Rolling to Increase Efficiency

Jürgen Steger, Fraunhofer Institute for Forming Technology IWU

Present and Future Applications of Light-Weighting Technology in Forging

Taylan Altan, Engineering Center for Net Shape Manufacturing at OSU

Induction Forging Systems – Quality Assurance and Process Enhancement

Collin Russell, Inductotherm Group

Factors Affecting the Selection of the Correct Type of Forging Equipment and Process to Minimize Operating, Maintenance and Repair Cost

Roger Rees, SMS Meer Inc.

Selection Criteria for Forging Press Technology

Andreas Kress, Schuler Group

Applications of Finite Element Modeling in Material Conversion at TimkenSteel Corporation

Krich Sawamiphakdi, TimkenSteel Corporation

Utilizing Simulation to Design New Manufacturing Processes for Titanium Closed Die Forgings

Kevin Kacinskas, Weber Metals Inc.

Lightweight Automotive Design – The Potential of Forging

Kai Ruge and Stephen Lutzenberger, Hirschvogel Inc.

Simulation of the Heat Treatment of AISI 8630

Jorge Ortiz, FRISA Industries

Latest Forging Developments at HHI

Markus Knoerr, HHI Forgings LLC

List of Exhibitors

Nearly 30 companies displayed their products and services in the exhibit hall.

•   A. Finkl & Sons

•   Ajax Tocco Magnethermic

•   Ajax-CECO

•   American Iron & Steel Institute

•   ATI

•   Budenheim USA

•   Campbell Press & Hammer Repair

•   Condat Corp.

•   Cross Technologies Group

•   Dynamic Surface Technologies International

•   FORGE magazine

•   Fraunhofer

•   Inductotherm Group,

    Inductoheat Div.

•   J.L. Becker/Gasbarre Furnace Group

•   LASCO Engineering Services

•   Lazar Sales

•   Nutec Bickley

•   Qform/Forge Technology

•   Schuler Group

•   Scientific Forming Technologies

•   Simufact-Americas

•   SMS Meer

•   Superior Die Set Corp.

•   Transvalor Americas Corp.

•   Vibro/Dynamics Corp.

•   Weld Mold Company

30th Technical Conference Countdown ...

185 People in attendance

36 Authors and co- authors of papers

31 Papers presented

26 Tabletop exhibitors

6 Colleges and universities represented

8 Papers presented based on Forging Foundation-sponsored research

1 Industry magazine present at the event