Numerical Simulation of Machining Distortions on a Forged Component Obtained by Ring Rolling Process.

Residual stresses induced in the component by previous thermal/mechanical processes are compressive or tensile stresses having a zero resultant. In particular, they arise as consequence of thermo-mechanical processes (e.g. ring-rolling process), casting and heat treatments. When machining stressed components, volume removal leads to a rearrangement of residual stresses, which inevitably causes distortions in the workpiece. If distortions are excessive, they can lead to a large number of scrap parts. This paper describes the development of a numerical procedure for the analysis of the distortions on a waspaloy turbine case, obtained by ring rolling process. A 3D model of ring rolling process has been set in the commercial software DEFORM 3D. Three different ring rolling strategies have been analyzed, in order to find the combination of process parameters which allows to obtain the best component in terms of geometrical precision. Then, the heat treatments (air cooling, solubilization, stabilization and aging) have been simulated to predict the bulk residual stresses distributions. Finally, the numerical distortions induced by machining have been simulated considering the material removal in some machining operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]