Response rules of strain and temperature fields to roll sizes during hot rolling process of TC4 titanium alloy conical ring

A parameter of equivalent radius is proposed to describe the linearly changing radial sizes of the conical rolls and conical ring blank. Then a method to determine the reasonable range of the key process parameters for conical ring rolling is presented. Under the ABAQUS software environment, a coupled thermo-mechanical 3D-FE model is developed for hot conical ring rolling of TC4 titanium alloy, and the response rules and mechanism of strain and temperature fields to roll sizes are numerically revealed during the process. The main results show that: with the increase of the equivalent radius of the main roll, the equivalent plastic strain and temperature increases obviously in the inside surface layer of the ring, and the temperature distribution of the whole rolled ring becomes more homogeneous, with the increase of the equivalent radius of the mandrel, the equivalent plastic strain and temperature decrease obviously in the inside surface layer of the ring, and the temperature distribution of the whole rolled ring becomes more inhomogeneous, and for the main roll and the mandrel, there is a respective optimum equivalent radius at which the strain of the rolled ring is most evenly distributed.