An axisymmetric forging approach to preform design in ring rolling using a rigid–viscoplastic finite element method

In this paper, a new method for approximately predicting the deformation of material in ring rolling is presented. The plastic flow of material in ring rolling is assumed to be axisymmetric and thus the ring rolling process is considered as a sequence of consecutive forging processes. The problem, having tool velocity as well as material velocity field as unknown variables, is formulated by an axisymmetric rigid–viscoplastic finite element method. The unknown tool velocity is determined by making the circumferential stress on the ring cross-section exist in the range of user-specified values. The approach is applied to preform shape design in ring rolling of bearing races. The predicted results are compared with the experimental ones. It has been shown that the approximate approach presented is useful for engineering design of preform in ring rolling of bearing race-like rings.