Most of automobile steering parts are manufactured through the multi-stage cold forging process using round-bar drawn materials. The same process is applied to the ball stud parts of the outer ball joint, and various research activities are being carried out to reduce the extreme manufacturing cost in order to survive in the limitless competition. In this paper, we present a quantitative prediction method for the limiting life of the die as a method for cost reduction in the multi-stage cold forging process. The load on the die was minimized by distributing the forming load based on process optimization through finite element analysis. In addition, based on the quantitative prediction algorithm of the limiting life of the die, the application of the split die and the optimization of the phosphate treatment of the material surface are presented as a conclusion as a method to improve the limiting life of the die.

• 서영호(한국생산기술연구원) | Young Ho Seo Corresponding author