Fatigue life prediction model of WC-Co cold forging dies based on experimental and numerical studies

This study presents experimental and numerical studies to predict fatigue life of WC-Co 20% cold forging die. In order to determine the fatigue behavior of the material, three-point bending fatigue tests were performed and Morrow-Haigh diagrams were constructed. The analytical formulation was established by means of Basquin correlation obtained from the experimental results and die life was estimated according to the stress amplitude and mean stress values obtained from the finite element analysis. Verification of the analytical formulation was also carried out by obtaining the fatigue life cycle of the die from production line. The findings obtained showed that the life estimation method made the correct prediction with a deviation of 5.6%.