An approach to simulate cold roll‐forging of turbo‐engine thin compressor blade

Abstract

PurposeStudying manufacturing process of compressor blade can reduce the production cost and time in aircraft turbo‐engine industries. In the cold roll‐forging of thin compressor blades, the elastic behavior of machine structure and rolls is considerable due to the higher volume of roll separating force. Owing to this kind of elastic deformation during rolling, the adjusted gap between the rolling dies is increased and this causes unexpected flow of material, shape and thickness. The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach for simulation of cold rolling of thin blades and studying the effect of elastic behavior of the machine structure as well as rolls deflection on the material flow and roll separating force.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the process has been investigated using experimental test and simulation by introducing a new approach in a decision‐making flowchart. Instead of simulating of the entire system structure, a couple of virtual deformable rolls are suggested. The specifications of these rolls are selected to behave elastically during rolling same as whole roll stand. In addition, the thickness values are compared in both experiment and simulation. Also, the roll separating force is compared with and without using this approach.FindingsA decision‐making algorithm has been presented that can be used to study the process. This finding provides the basis to investigate the effect of elastic deformation of machine structure and rolls on dimensional accuracy and roll force.Originality/valueResult of this work can promote the position of simulation of the thin rolled sections to an extent more compatible with reality. For instance, the amount of increased gap between two dies during rolling can be estimated accurately. Also the influence of this gap on final blade thickness and the roll force and on the roll torque can be investigated by this approach.