Abstract
Process design of hot forging, asymmetric to symmetric rib-web shape steel, which is used for the turnout of railway express has been investigated. Owing to the big difference in shape between the initial billet and the final forged product, it is impossible to hot forge the rail in a single step. Therefore, multi step forging as well as die design for each step are necessary for the production. The deformation behavior during hot forging has been analyzed by the numerical simulation through commercial FEA software, $DEFORM^{TM}$-2D. Modification of the design and repeated simulation have been carried out on the basis of the simulation result. For comparison with the simulation results. flow analysis experiment using plasticine has been also carried out. The results of the flow analysis experiment showed good agreement with those of the simulation. Therefore, the developed process design could be applied to the actual production.