Material properties of blank have a great effect on power spinning process of aluminum alloy parts with transverse inner rib.By using finite element(FE) and Taguchi method,the effects and significance of five key material parameters,namely,anisotropic index in thickness direction,yield strength,hardening exponent,strengthening factor and elastic modulus on the formability of inner rib,tendency of wall fracture and degree of inhomogeneous deformation of finished spun parts were obtained.The achievements provide an important guide for selecting reasonable spinning material,and are very significant for the optimum design and precision control of power spinning process of parts with transverse inner rib.
Springback is one of important factors influencing the forming quality of numerical control (NC) bending of thin-walled tube. In this paper, a numerical-analytic method for springback angle prediction of the process was put forward. The method is based on springback angle model derived using analytic method and simulation results from three-dimensional (3D) rigid-plastic finite element method (FEM). The method is validated through comparison with experimental results. The features of the method are as follows: (1) The method is high in efficiency because it combines advantages of rigid-plastic FEM and analytic method. (2) The method is satisfactory in accuracy, since the field variables used in the model is resulting from 3D rigid-plastic FEM solution, and the effects both of axial force and strain neutral axis shift have been included. (3) Research on multi-factor effects can be carried out using the method due to its advantage inheriting from rigid-plastic FEM. The method described here is also of general significance to other bending processes.
Tube inversion including free deformation under conical die is an advanced forming process for manufacturing complicated thin-walled parts with high strength/weight ratio, high efficiency, and good flexibility for size changing.However, the successful reality of forming process, the change of deforming mode and shape and size of part formedare mainly on the die angle. Based on the analysis of the forming process, the model of rigid-plastic FEM (finiteelement method) is established and a numerical simulation system is developed. The effect of die angle on the tubeinversion forming process is investigated with the code developed. The results of the effect of half die angle on shapeof free deformation zone and on deforming load are obtained. There is an optimal die angle (about 75 deg), whichmakes the forming load minimum.
In order to improve the computational accuracy and efficiency,it is necessary to establish a reasonable 3D FEM model for multi-pass spinning including not only spinning process but also springback and annealing processes.A numerical model for multi-pass spinning is established using the combination of explicit and implicit FEM,with the advantages of them in accuracy and efficiency. The procedures for model establishment are introduced in detail,and the model is validated.The application of the 3D FEM model to a two-pass spinning shows the following:The field variables such as the stress,strain and wall thickness during the whole spinning process can be obtained,not only during spinning process but also during springback and annealing processes,and the trends of their distributions and variations are in good agreement with a practical multi-spinning process.Thus the 3D FEM model for multi-pass spinning may be a helpful tool for determination and optimization of process parameters of multi-pass spinning process.
Blade precision forging is a high temperature and large plastic deformation process. Process parameters have a great effect on temperature distribution in billet, so in this paper, by taking a Ti-6Al-4V alloy blade with a tenon as an object, the influence of process parameters on the temperature distribution in precision forging process was investigated using 3D coupled thermo-mechanical FEM (finite element method) code developed by the authors. The results obtained illustrate that: (1) the gradient of temperature distribution increases with increasing the deformation degree; (2) with increasing the initial temperature of the billet, the zones of high temperature become larger, and the gradient of temperature distribution hardly has any increase; (3) friction factors have little effect on the distribution of temperature field; (4) with increasing upper die velocity, temperature of the billet increases while the temperature gradient in billet decreases. The results are helpful to the design and optimization of the process parameters in precision forging process of Ti-alloy blade.