The feature approach has been applied in mechanical production and has given satisfactory results with respect to the requirement of obtaining a realistic machining process. In forming dies, the objective is a rapid and high quality machining of the prototype dies, allowing the stamping of the first forged part.
The feature approach is based on the definition of morphologies characteristic of the forming dies. These morphologies are closely linked to specially adapted machining processes. This approach allows the machining of the forming tools as well as the definition of the geometrical model of each feature, from the data and parameters required for the machining process definition, using the "concave" and "convex" notions. Moreover, this approach allows one to take rapidly into account any modifications to the design of the forged part, and simply consists of modifying, locally, some of the features and their blends, without altering the basic model.
The Association Pour ie D6veloppement et I'Utilisation des Logiciels d'Outillages de Forge (Association for the Development and the Use of Software for Forging Dies) has given financial support to the Laboratoire Universitaire de Recherche en Production Automatis~e (University Laboratory in Automated Production Research) to do this research work and to build a CAD/CAM experimental station. The LURPA-CN3D software has been used in industry for three and a half years. The results obtained show that this approach has great potential.