Journal of Materials Processing Technology 129 (2002) 326±329

A study of the stress and strain distributions of ®rst-pass

conventional spinning under different roller-traces
J.H. Liua, H. Yanga,*, Y.Q. Lib
a
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, P.O. Box 542, Xi'an 710072, China
b
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China

Abstract

In this paper, based on the establishment of a reasonable mechanics model for a typical draw-spinning, research on the ®rst pass of the
spinning process is carried out with an elasto-plastic FEM method. The distributions of the stress and strain are obtained under three types of
roller-trace curves: straight lines, involute curves and quadratic curves. The distribution laws of the radial and tangential stress that are
obtained can serve as a signi®cant guide to determining the forming limits in multi-pass conventional spinning under different roller-traces.
Comparison of the distributions of strain and stress of three roller-traces could provide a theoretical basis for selecting a reasonable roller-trace
in multi-pass conventional spinning.
# 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: Multi-pass conventional spinning; Roller-traces; Stress and strain distributions; Numerical simulation

1. Introduction
The spinning process, as an important part of advanced
plastic working technologies, has become a prior process for
thin-wall axisymmetric workpiece forming, and plays an
important role in metal precision processing ®elds, such as
aeronautics, astronautics, weaponry, and so on. Spinning
includes power spinning and conventional spinning accord-
ing to the thickness of plate changing or not. In general, the
spinning process, in which the thickness of workpiece is
almost unchanged, is called conventional spinning. Spinning
forming is continuous and partial plastic deformation, so it is
very dif®cult to control the shape, dimensions and precision
of the ®nished parts. Usually, by the multi-pass process a
part can be spun in order to improve the surface roughness
and forming limit [1], as shown in Fig. 1. During multi-pass
conventional spinning forming, the number of spinning
passes, the spacing between two passes and the shape of
the part are determined by the roller-trace. During the
process of multi-pass conventional spinning, the determina-
tion of the roller-trace has a great affect on the quality of the
formed parts, even on the success or not of spinning [2]. At
the same time, different roller-traces have a different in¯u-
ence on the deformation of the blank [3]. In the ®rst pass, the
deformation mode of the blank is quite different from that of
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: ‡86-29-849-5632; fax: ‡86-29-849-1000.
E-mail address: yanghe@nwpu.edu.cn (H. Yang).
other passes due to the great change of blank shape from
plate to shell [4]. Therefore, it is essential to study the
distributions of stress and strain in the ®rst pass of conven-
tional spinning under various roller-traces.
2. Establishment of an elasto-plastic FEM model
2.1. Basic assumptions
In the spinning process, due to the load from the moving
roller, the rotating blank experiences continuous and partial
plastic deformation. Thus it is dif®cult to study the mechan-
ism of conventional spinning under different roller-traces
due to the complex deformation process. In this paper, the
most typical draw-spinning is taken as an object, and some
simpli®cation and reasonable assumptions are made as
follows:
(i) the deformation is axisymmetric to eliminate the
influences of the speed of the principal axis and the
tangential squeeze of the roller and blank;
(ii) the contact pressure is evenly distribution on the
surface of the plate, and the load is applied
simultaneously on the circumferential contact surface
of each feed;
(iii) the frictional resistance between the plate and the
roller is neglected.

0924-0136/02/$ ± see front matter # 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 6 8 2 - 9
 J.H. Liu et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 129 (2002) 326±329 327

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of three roller-trace curves.

The material of the blank selected is LF2M and its

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of conventional spinning: (1) blank; (2) roller;
(3) part.
2.2. Mechanics model
In the spinning process, the rate of roller feed is very
small, therefore the partial deformation is regarded as small
deformation and non-linear behavior. According to the
above basic assumptions, that part of the blank between
holding devices is ®xed whilst the rim of the blank is free,
and the spinning force is uniform. The mechanical model is
shown in Fig. 2.
2.3. Selection of process parameters
properties are: Young's modulus E ˆ 71,000 MPa, Pois-
son's ratio n ˆ 0:3, initial yield stress ss0 ˆ 90 MPa, mate-
rial hardening exponent n ˆ 0:16.
Based on the model and parameters given above, the
research on the ®rst pass of conventional spinning process
is carried out with elasto-plastic FEM method.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Equivalent stress and strain
The distributions of equivalent stress and strain in the ®rst
pass of spinning under three roller-traces is shown in Fig. 4.
The values of equivalent stress and strain are the lowest

In conventional spinning, there are various roller-trace

curves to be chosen. These curves can be divided into three
types of basic ®gure: straight lines, concave curves and
convex curves. In this paper, three roller-trace curves:
straight line, involute curve and quadratic curve are applied.
To compare these curves, the same initial point and end point
of these curves are speci®ed, and the feeds along the
generatrix direction are also uniform. There is no contact
zone between the plate and the wall of the mandrel under the
mono-directional trace in the ®rst pass. A schematic diagram
of the three roller-trace curves is shown in Fig. 3.
The main processing parameters used in the FEM simula-
tion are as follows: (i) blank parameters: diameter D0 ˆ
180 mm, thickness t0 ˆ 1 mm; (ii) roller parameters: dia-
meter Dr ˆ 140 mm, corner round radius R ˆ 6 mm; (iii)
mandrel diameter d ˆ 80 mm; (iv) rate of feed f ˆ 0:2 mm/r.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of mechanics model. Fig. 4. Distributions of equivalent stress and strain.
328 J.H. Liu et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 129 (2002) 326±329
under the involute curve, as compared with the other two
curves, and they change relatively little and decrease with
increase of the radius. The values of equivalent stress and
strain are the highest under quadratic curves, and increase
with increase of the radius. Under a straight line the values of
equivalent stress and strain are medium.
3.2. Main stress
The distributions of the main stress in the ®rst-pass
spinning under three roller-traces are shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Distribution of main stress.
The value of radial stress is the smallest under the involute
curve, and becomes the largest under the straight line, whilst
it is medium under the quadratic curve. The value of radial
stress is often used as the criterion of the cracking limit, so
its distribution laws can provide reference for determining
cracking failure in multi-pass conventional spinning under
different roller-traces. The tangential stress is compressive,
its absolute value of being the smallest under the involute
curve, whilst its under the other two curves are close. The
distribution laws of the tangential stress can serve as a
signi®cant guide to the determination of the critical condi-
tion of wrinkling in multi-pass conventional spinning under
different roller-traces.
Fig. 6. Distribution of main strain.
 J.H. Liu et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 129 (2002) 326±329
3.3. Main strain
The distributions of the main strain in the ®rst-pass spin-
ning under three roller-traces are shown in Fig. 6. About
radial and tangential strain, their values are the smallest and
distributions are the most even under the involute curve,
become the largest under the quadratic curve, and are med-
ium under the straight line. The reduction of thickness is the
smallest under the involute curve. The distribution of the
thickness strain is quite unequal under the quadratic curve.
4. Conclusions
1. The distributions of the stress and strain are obtained for
the first-pass of spinning process by analyzing the
process with an elasto-plastic FEM method, which
shows that the stress and strain obtained under the
involute curve are small and even as compared with
those for the other two curves.
2. The distribution laws of radial and tangential stress
obtained can serve as a significant guide to determining
the forming limits in multi-pass conventional spinning
under different roller-traces.
329
3. The results of comparison of the distributions of strain
and stress under the three roller-traces could provide a
theoretical basis for selecting a reasonable roller-trace in
multi-pass conventional spinning.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Teaching and
Research Award Program for Outstanding Young Teachers
in Higher Education Institutions of MOE, PRC and the
Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (No. 00H53075)
for support to enable the performing of this research.
References
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