Axle Forgings Orbital Forming Process

Rotary forging technology is local deformation continuous forming process. The components obtained have a high dimensional precision and low surface roughness and few or non-machining can be realized. Because of its advantage of energy and materials saving, the technology is widely used in the deformation of components with disk shapes and shaft with flange. The rotary forging technology can be classified as conventional rotary-forging technology and the new rotary-forging technology according to the heating times and the pre-forging methods. The matured conventional rotary-forging technology with reheating is widely used in the production of shaft-parts. The one-heating and the pre-forging technology are adopted in the new rotary-forging technology. The new technology has not been widely utilized in the production of shaft-parts and its theory need to be further verified and improved.In this paper, the one-heat rotary forging process of shaft components were researched with theoretical study and numerical simulation methods combining plastic forming theory, rigid-viscoplasticity finite element theory and FEM numerical simulation. The FEM model was set up with rigid-viscoplasticity theory and thermal-mechanical coupling principles. And the hot rotary pre-forging and finish-forging process of shaft flanges were numerically simulated. The distribution of the stress field, strain field, velocity field and temperature field of the forming process and the influencing rules of the rotary forging process have been obtained through the variation of the slide speed, optimization of process parameters and strict control of the pre-forging temperatures. Through the comparison of the pre-forging and finish-forging schemes, the billet distribution of the pre-forgings can be rationally realized by the optimization of the speed, the forging temperature can be reasonably controlled and the better flange finish forging quality can be guaranteed. The variation of the temperature field, the rule of the temperature distribution and the influence of temperature on the forming process were also discussed.The results of this paper has provided a process guiding and reference for the forging experiments of shaft flange components, the new process theory of the rotary forging process can be further enriched. It also provided a theoretical basis for the subsequent process experiment study and modification.