Study On The Forging Process Of TBM's Disc Cutter Ring

The disc cutter ring is TBM's consumptive part, whose mechanical property directly affects the tunneling speed. In order to improve the service time of the cutter ring, many domestic scholars have conducted a number of studies from different aspects, but little are on forming process. The hollow and solid cylindrical billets of the cutter ring are the study object of this article. Using plastic mechanics knowledge the mathematical expressions of each variable are obtained theoretically by simplifying the forming process. Then the concrete forming process is simulated by DEFORM-3D, a metal forming simulation software.Reasonable distribution of the metal streamlines is inducive to improve the disc cutter ring's mechanical property, while the size of original billet is the main factor influencing the distribution of metal streamlines. the cutter ring's ideal distribution of metal streamlines is described according to its actual working state. the optimal size is selected through the comparative analysis on the metal streamlines formed by billets with different sizes. The cutter ring's forging die load is calculated by using empirical formulas and software DEFORM separately. With the help of software DEFORM's post-processing function, the cutter ring billet's stress distribution and velocity distribution are also obtained and analysised comparatively.Through analysis of the above variables, both the best in hollow billets and solid billets are chosen out, and then their velocity distributions during the forging process are analysised comparatively. The results showed that the comprehensive performance of the solid cutter ring's billet after forging is better. Finally, using the software DEFORM's point tracking function, the deformation process of the cutter ring's blade is analysed more detailly.