Closed-die forging process and rotationally incremental forging press

摘要

A forging press includes a die set having a stationary die, a movable die in facing-but-spaced-apart relation to the stationary die along a press axis and defining a workpiece volume therebetween, and an exterior constraint extending circumferentially around the workpiece volume. The movable die has a base level region lying generally in a workpiece plane perpendicular to the press axis, and three rotationally symmetric segments raised above the base level region. Each of the segments forms an angular segment of a disk having an included segment angle and that is angularly separated from the other segments. A press mechanism includes a axial drive operable to move the movable die in a direction parallel to the press axis, and an indexing drive operable to rotate the movable die about the press axis by an indexing rotational angle. In operation, the axial drive performs a press stroke and retracts, the indexing drive rotates the movable die by the indexing rotational angle of less than the included segment angle, and the axial drive performs another press stroke. By repeating these steps, the entire workpiece is forged incrementally.