For hot rolling of titanium alloy large rings,evolution laws of stress and strain fields in rings with various sizes were explored and compared based on a reliable coupled thermo-mechanical three-dimensional （3D） finite element （FE） model.The results show that for forming processes of different rings,as γ^-（the equivalent distribution ratio of feed amount per revolution of a process） decreases,the final peak Mises stress may transfer from the biting point at the driver roll side to that at the idle roll side,and the final peak equivalent plastic strain may transfer from the outside surface to the inside surface;as L^- （the equivalent deformation zone length of a process） increases,the final peak Mises stress may appear in the middle layer.The final positions of peak Mises stress and equivalent plastic strain are the combined effects of the above two aspects.In the deformation zone of a deformed ring,the surface layers are in the 3D compressive stress state,while the middle layer is in the 1D compressive and 2D tensile stress state or 2D compressive and 1D tensile stress state;the whole ring is in the 1D compressive and 2D tensile strain state.
Although multi-stage incremental sheet forming has always been adopted instead of single-stage forming to form parts with a steep wall angle or to achieve a high forming performance, it is largely dependent on empirical designs. In order to research multi-stage forming further, the effect of forming stages(n) and angle interval between the two adjacent stages(Δα) on thickness distribution was investigated. Firstly, a finite element method(FEM) model of multi-stage incremental forming was established and experimentally verified. Then, based on the proposed simulation model, different strategies were adopted to form a frustum of cone with wall angle of 30° to research the thickness distribution of multi-pass forming. It is proved that the minimum thickness increases largely and the variance of sheet thickness decreases significantly as the value of n grows. Further, with the increase of Δα, the minimum thickness increases initially and then decreases, and the optimal thickness distribution is achieved with Δα of 10°.Additionally, a formula is deduced to estimate the sheet thickness after multi-stage forming and proved to be effective. And the simulation results fit well with the experimental results.
