Influence of the combined radial shear rolling and rotary forging on the stress-strain state of the small diameter bar stock of titanium-based alloys

Abstract

The paper focuses on the finite element method used to simulate the stress-strain state of a small-diameter bar stock during hot-forming in a combination of radial shear rolling (RSR) and rotary forging (RF). Simulation was carried out using the rheological model of the Ti-6Al-4V titanium-based alloy with the QForm VX software. A combination of radial shear rolling of a workpiece with a diameter of 15 mm to 12 mm bar in one pass and subsequent rotary forging in one, two and three passes to obtain bars with diameters 11, 10 and 8 mm is simulated. During the simulation, step-by-step accumulation of plastic deformation was taken into account in the conditions of its nonuniform distribution. The intermediate and finite fields of plastic deformation, strain rate and average stress are obtained. It is shown that plastic deformation distribution after RSR has an expressed gradient with a maximum value (3 or more) at the periphery of the cross-section and a minimum value (about 1) at the center. As a result of RF, even with small reductions, the stress-strain state becomes much more uniform compared with a workpiece of the same diameter after radial shear rolling only. In addition, residual tensile stresses due to compressive stresses during rotary forging are reduced. Direct experimental testing of the combined deformation method was carried out for a promising medical-grade Ti-Zr-Nb shape memory alloy when manufacturing 7-8 mm diameter rods in experimental production conditions. Qualitative confirmation of modeling results is obtained by metallographic analysis. It is shown that the combination of radial shear rolling and rotary forging is promising for creating industrial technologies for the manufacture of small-diameter rods with a highly uniform finely-dispersed structure.