In order to produce high-quality spur bevel gears utilising the
cold rotary forging process, detailed understanding of this process
is required. Consequently, the work presented here is devoted to
the numerical simulation of cold rotary forging of a spur bevel gear
based on the theory of rigid-plastic FE method under the DEFORM-
3D platform, aiming to illustrate the feasibility and reveal the
deformation mechanism of this process. In tandem with this goal,
20CrMnTi alloy is taken as investigating material and its mechanical
properties are obtained from the tensile tests. Meanwhile, in
order to provide a realistic friction condition at the die-workpiece
interface, some ring compression tests are performed with different
lubricants and the friction factor under MoS2 lubricant condition
is determined. Based on the above reliable pre-processing
data, a sound 3D FE model is developed by DEFORM-3D code to
actualise the entire cold rotary forging simulation process of a
20CrMnTi alloy spur bevel gear. Through simulations, an optimised
workpiece geometry is first recommended and then the deformation
mechanism of cold rotary forging of a spur bevel gear is
revealed. For a validation purpose, the cold rotary forging experiments
of a 20CrMnTi alloy spur bevel gear are successfully conducted.
By comparing the gear shape after cold rotary forging, as
well as the axial forging force between the experiments and simulations,
it shows that the calculated results conform well to the
experimental ones. Additionally, the uniqueness of cold rotary
forging is highlighted by comparing the forming load with that of
conventional forging. The research results form a firm foundation
for the practical utilisation of complicated spur bevel gears coldrotary-
forging technology.