<p>Indirect gains and verification obtained by using analysis programs in the manufacturing industry are becoming more critical in terms of competition and finance day by day, together with changing economic policies. Since medium-carbon steels exhibit more ductile behavior than high-carbon steels, obtaining crack-damage formation with a standard compression test is more challenging. In this study, the critical damage limit of C45E steel is examined in the cold forging process, and the essential determination of damage limit with numerical methods and verification with experimental methods are discussed. Compression tests are performed with the determined center flange test geometry to observe the damage behavior better, and load–displacement graphs of C45E steel are obtained. The load–displacement curve of the material is used to determine the friction coefficient of the experimental environment. Numerical analyses are performed with different Coulomb coefficient values, and the load–displacement graphs are compared. By examining the load–displacement graphs of the numerical and experimental studies, the friction coefficient value of the experimental environment was determined, and the Cockroft Latham critical damage value was determined as 0,42 for C45E steel with a low sensitivity element number. The numerical analysis examined the effect of the element number on the damage value. The compression test analysis was repeated by increasing the element number, and the critical damage limit of C45E steel was determined as 0.47.</p>