Computer aided forging design

This paper describes an application to design axisymmetrical forging pieces and dies, based on design rules and variational geometry. First, axisymmetrical pieces were clasified into families; then forging design rules were identified for draft angles, radius, flash land and preforms. Finally the application was implemented in I/EMS from Intergraph using the Parametric Programming Language (PPL) and the I/FORMS interface. In order to reach a wider range of CAD softwares and hardware platforms a prototype of the application has also been implemented in an Object Oriented Language (C++) and with and X11 based interface.