The plastic deformation behaviour of 7075 aluminium alloy during the forging process was studied using Deform 3D software. The simulation process was carried out at a constant die velocity of 5 mm/s and a varying forging temperature between 250°C and 400°C. The results showed that the forging load increased with a decrease in the forging temperature. The effective strain rate, strain and stress distribution were inhomogeneous across the deformed workpiece, indicating nonuniform forging process. It was observed that the reduction in the forging temperature during the process was responsible for the inhomogeneity. The flow curves obtained using finite element simulation code are consistent with experimental results reported in literature.

A Deform^TM-3D analysis was used to illustrate the effect of strain rate on isothermal deformation (forging) of X20CrMoV121 steel. The simulation process was conducted at an isothermal temperature of 850 °C and varying the strain rates of 1.9 s^-1, 2 s^-1 and 3 s^-1. The results of temperature, strain and stress distribution at various strain rates were reported. The strain/stress distribution exhibited a heterogeneous distribution, indicating inhomogeneity during hot forging. It was also shown that the deformation inhomogeneity decreased with the increase in the strain rate. The results are comparable to experimental publications, indicating that Deform^TM-3D is an effective tool for finite element analysis of hot deformation processes.