Abstract It is well recognized the importance of the rheological characterization for the development of the steel in thermomechanical treatments, especially for the mechanical properties improvement of bainitic steels in subsequent hot forging optimization. Therefore, the plastic strain behaviour of a low carbon high silicon bainitic steel was studied through isothermal compression tests using a thermomechanical simulator at temperatures of 1123 K – 1423 K and strain rates of 0.1 – 5 s-1. Arrhenius equation was used to obtain the constitutive constants, which represents the material behaviour of flow stress in high temperature. Besides, work hardening, dynamic recovery, and the JMAK model in the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) of the steel parameters were determined. The second part of this research compared two proposed modified models from the literature, which showed the differences in modelled flow curves behaviour when they are applied for high strain levels. The flow curves were modelled in high strain levels for further implementation in numerical simulation, thus allowing an adjustment of parameters in hot forming processes for this bainitic steel. The proposed models presented an agreement with experimental values. However, only the Avrami equation to DRX showed the dynamic recovery mechanism in high strain levels, which has represented physical behaviour during the thermomechanical process.

RESUMO Trefilação é um processo de fabricação que consiste na redução da área de seção transversal de um material, quando este atravessa uma matriz cônica, chamada fieira. Devido às características inerentes ao processo, as deformações são heterogêneas ao longo da seção do material, originando tensões residuais, que podem contribuir com o aparecimento de distorções, propagação de trincas e consequentemente acarretar em redução da vida útil do produto final. Neste trabalho, foi analisada a influência da geometria da fieira no perfil de tensões residuais geradas em um caso típico de trefilação de fio máquina para obter-se barras retas de aço AISI 1045, com redução em área de seção transversal de aproximadamente 11% e diâmetro inicial de 21,46 mm. O objetivo foi encontrar um design de ferramenta que reduza a magnitude das tensões residuais em relação a um design industrial típico com ângulo de trefilação de 15º e único passe. Ensaios de compressão e do anel foram realizados para obter-se a curva de escoamento do material e o valor do coeficiente de atrito. Os modelos numéricos foram validados através da análise dos perfis das tensões residuais simuladas com as condições de equilíbrio impostas pelo problema, bem como com dados da literatura. Além disso, os valores das deformações principais e da pressão de contato (entre a barra e a fieira) simulados foram comparados com valores calculados. Inicialmente, foram simuladas condições com diferentes relações de região de calibração por diâmetro final, verificando-se que na faixa entre 0,4 a 0,6 ocorre uma diminuição nas tensões residuais axiais. Quando incluída uma região cônica dupla na fieira, foi encontrada uma grande redução nas tensões residuais axiais na superfície, de 65% em relação aodesign industrial, mostrando ser esta uma solução promissora para a melhoria do projeto de fieiras de trefilação de fio máquina.

ABSTRACT Wire drawing is a metalworking process used to reduce the cross-section of a wire by pulling the wire through drawing dies. The generated strains are non-homogeneous through the cross section of the material, leading to residual stresses that can contribute to the appearance of shape distortions, crack propagation and shortening of the product life time. In this work, the influence of the die geometry in the generated residual stresses on a typical case of wire rod drawing operation (production of straight AISI 1045 steel bars with 11% reduction from an initial diameter of 21,46 mm) was investigated. The objective was to obtain a new tool design able to reduce the residual stresses in relation to a typical design of the tools which includes the use of a drawing angle of 15º in one single pass. Compression and ring compression tests were performed in order to obtain the material stress-strain curve and the friction coefficient of the process, respectively. The developed numerical models were initially validated by analyzing simulated residual stress profiles regarding the equilibrium conditions for the problem, as well as by comparison with literature data. Furthermore, the principal strains and the contact pressure (between the bar and the die) values obtained from the simulation were compared with calculated ones. Initially, simulations were carried out for different bearing lengths and it was found that for relations of bearing length to diameter of the drawn bar between 0.4 and 0.6, a reduction in the axial residual stresses can be achieved. A large reduction in the axial residual stresses at the surface of 65% in relation to the typical industrial design was found in the case of the design with a double conical region, showing to be a promising solution for die design improvement.

In this work, a drawing processed was simulated to calculate forces and the resulting residual stresses in the material. The calculated residual stresses were compared with experimentally measured residual stresses by the Neutron Diffraction Method. The modeled process was the Wire Drawing. The necessary parameters to model the process were taken from an industrial currently used process. Rods of an AISI 1045 steel with nominal diameters of 21.46 mm were reduced to 20.25 mm by drawing with an drawing angle of 15°. Compression tests were used to determinate flow curves of the real material an used in the simulation models. The possibility to estimate drawing forces by numerical simulation was evaluated by comparing simulated results with values from empirical equations given by the literature. The results have shown a sufficient accuracy for the calculation of forces, but the comparison of residual stresses has shown differences to the experimentally determined ones that can be minimized by the consideration of high strain rates in the compression tests, anisotropy of the material and kinematic hardening.

Nesse trabalho foi simulada a etapa de trefilação na produção de barras redondas do aço AISI 1045 através do processo de trefilação combinada. Foram determinados diversos parâmetros para a simulação com base em processos industriais de trefilação combinada. Foi realizado o teste do anel, e sua simulação, a fim de obter-se o valor de atrito para utilização na simulação numérica e cálculos analíticos. Dos resultados da simulação numérica, através da comparação desta com equações empíricas e analíticas, foi avaliada a capacidade da simulação de prever a força de trefilação. Além disso, foi realizado um esforço no sentido de determinar as tensões residuais após a trefilação. Os valores simulados de tensões residuais foram comparados com valores experimentais obtidos através de análise de tensões residuais por difração de Nêutrons realizada em amostras trefiladas da industria. Com base neste trabalho, foi discutida a possibilidade de usar-se a simulação para prever quantitativamente as tensões residuais após o processo de trefilação. As análises poderão ser utilizadas para o desenvolvimento de futuros melhoramentos no processo de trefilação.

In this work, the wire-drawing production step for the production of AISI 1045 steel bars was numerically simulated. Different parameters necessary for the simulation were estimated based on current combined industrial drawing processes. Ring compression tests were carried out and simulated aiming at the determination of the friction value to be used in the simulation. From the numerical simulation results, the capacity of the simulation for estimating the drawing forces by comparison with analytical and empirical equations was evaluated. Besides this, an effort was made to simulate the residual stresses after drawing. The simulated residual stress profiles were then compared to experimental residual stresses profiles, which were obtained in a Neutron Diffraction experimental analysis carried out on industrial samples. Based on this work, the possibility of using simulation to quantitatively calculate residual stresses after the cold drawing was discussed. The carried out analysis will be used to implement improvements in the drawing process.