An innovative constraining ring rolling process for manufacturing conical rings with thin sterna and high ribs

Conical rings with thin sterna and high ribs (CRTSHR) are key bearing-load parts of aerospace equipment, which are required to be manufactured with high performance and efficiency. Traditional ring rolling is the most preferred method for manufacturing high-performance ring parts, but it can hardly achieve the forming of CRTSHR due to the extreme geometry of CRTSHR. To solve this difficulty, an innovative constraining ring rolling process (CRR) is proposed in this paper to manufacture CRTSHR. To evaluate the proposed CRR and reveal its deformation behaviors, a thermomechanical coupled FE model for CRR of CRTSHR is established. Then, the experiment for CRR of CRTSHR is performed on a modified ring rolling machine, which proves that CRR of CRTSHR is feasible and the established FE model is reliable. Based on the reliable FE model, the metal flow mode in deformed CRTSHR is analyzed, and the deformation characteristics such as the stress state, strain distribution and the evolution of power parameters in CRR of CRTSHR are revealed. Finally, the influences of key parameters such as the friction factor between ring and molds, the diameter of idle roll and the feed velocity of idle roll on CRR of CRTSHR are investigated by FE simulation.     

On a plastic instability criterion for ultra-large radial-axial ring rolling process with four guide rolls

A dynamic mechanical model is proposed to describe the complexing actions of all the rolls on the ring during the ultra-large radial-axial ring rolling(RARR) process with four guide rolls. Based on the model, the calculation models for bending moment and normal stress at any section of the ring are deduced by force method. If the maximum section bending normal stress exceeds the yield stress of the ring materials, the ring will be distorted thus leading to the instability of the RARR process. Ac...     

Metal flow hysteresis behavior and shape control strategy during porthole die extrusion of micro heat pipe

The shape control strategy of micro grooves is still unclear and challenging during the porthole die extrusion of grooved micro heat pipe (MHP). Through the simulation and experiment of porthole die extrusion of a MHP profile, the metal flow hysteresis behavior within micro features and the effect of ram speed and extrusion temperature on it and the resulting forming integrity was elucidated. Innovatively, Taguchi design and variance analysis (ANOVA) were introduced to determine their influence magnitude on the metal flow uniformity calculated by simulation results. The main findings are given below. The metal flow hysteresis derives from part feature size effect. The negligible friction-affected area during conventional extrusion severely slows down the metal flow within micro features during the MHP profile extrusion, which is due to the surge in the area ratio of the friction-affected area to the region in which it is located. Neither ram speed nor extrusion temperature can change the distribution of the friction-affected area. However, increasing ram speed multiplies the metal flow hysteresis and severely reduces the forming integrity, whereas extrusion temperature has little effect. Following this strategy, batch extrusion of the profile with micro-grooved width of 0.27 ± 0.02 mm was achieved in industrialized conditions.     

Modelling and analysis of metal flowing behaviors in constraining ring rolling of tapered ring with thin wall and three high ribs

Tapered ring with thin wall and three high ribs(TRTWTHR), showing complicated geometry(wall thickness is less than 4 mm and rib height exceeds 20 mm), is extensively utilized to fabricate the critical structural parts of aerospace equipment such as spacecraft cabin, rocket body and fuel tank because of light weight and high carrying capacity. How to fabricate TRTWTHR with high performance is a critical problem that aerospace area needs to solve. In this work, constraining ring rolling(CRR) techn...