Study of the hot forging of weld cladded work pieces using upsetting tests

This paper focuses on the hot forging of multi-material cladded work pieces using upsetting tests. The case study corresponds to gas metal arc welding cladding of a SS316L on a mild steel (C15). Experimental tests and simulations using a slab model and the finite element method were performed using different temperatures and die/billet tribological conditions. As a result, a crack mode, specific to clad billets, was observed experimentally and can be predicted by the FE method using a Latham and Cockcroft criterion. The material distribution was well simulated by the FE method; in particular, the effects of the friction at die/work piece interface on the crack occurrence, the material distribution and, to a lesser extent, the forging load are well predicted. However, the latter was underestimated, highlighting the fact that the effect of the dilution associated with the cladding process on the material behavior of the clad layer cannot be neglected.