FEM Based Prediction of Residual Stress in Thin-Walled Aluminum Process

Abstract

Thin-walled aluminum components are widely used in aerospace industry. The presence of residual stresses in aluminum components usually causes distortion after machining process, making it difficult to guarantee their integrated precision. Therefore, control of machined surface residual stresses is important for this industry. This paper presents an efficient method for modeling the residual stress imparted by machining process. The methodology is based on mathematical model and finite element method to predict the residual stresses during machining process. Through a thermo-mechanically model, machining process output parameters such as cutting forces and cutting temperatures are predicted as part of the overall modeling effort. To verify the modeling simulation, a test on aluminum alloy 7050T7352 is carried out. It is shown that the simulation result is consistent with the experimental one.