Blank design method for C-section profile ring rolling based on FEM and RSM

Because of complicated geometric structure of C-section rings and the obvious difference of volume distribution along axial direction, the metal is difficult to flow along the radial direction to fill the profile section during ring rolling process. With a typical C-section ring of Inconel718 alloy as the research object, a blank design method was proposed for C-section ring rolling to redistribute the volume along axial direction. Then based on a verified 3D coupled thermo-mechanical FE model, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to establish a response model with a high fitting accuracy of 98.31% to analyze the function relationship between the forming quality and blank size variables systematically. The results show that the blank design method proposed in this paper can be effectively applied to the C-section ring rolling. The C-section can be formed completely and about 10% of the material can be saved. Also, for multi-factor and multi-objective optimizations of ring rolling process, the optimal design method by combining FEM and RSM is an efficient and reliable method to obtain the best combination of parameters.