Novel Analytical Model of Mean Temperature and Experimental Research on the Rail Universal Rolling

For building the analytical model of mean temperature in rail universal rolling, the cross-section of workpieces and the profile of horizontal roll and vertical roll are simplified rationally. The mean temperature of the web of rail, the top of rail and the base of rail are considered individually. The temperature rises for plastic deformation and friction incorresponding deformation zone, the temperature drop for contact is calculated on the base of variation principle and energy conservation law. Then the mean temperature is obtained. For verifying the theoretical model, the 18 kg/m light rail universal rolling experiments are accomplished in Yanshan University Rolling Laboratory, China and the surface temperature is measured. The surface temperature is not exact enough to express the true temperature and the mean temperature can show the status of the true temperature basically. So the mean temperature can be used to express the true temperature and this theoretical model and its results can be applied as an important reference to control the temperature of rail universal rolling and the heat treatment of the rolled rail.

Finite Element Simulation of Flexible Roll Forming with Supplemented Material Data and the Experimental Verification

Flexible roll forming is a promising manufacturing method for the production of variable cross section products. Considering the large plastic strain in this forming process which is much larger than that of uniform deformation phase of uniaxial tensile test, the widely adopted method of simulating the forming processes with non-supplemented material data from uniaxial tensile test will certainly lead to large error. To reduce this error, the material data is supplemented based on three constitutive models. Then a finite element model of a six passes flexible roll forming process is established based on the supplemented material data and the original material data from the uniaxial tensile test. The flexible roll forming experiment of a B pillar reinforcing plate is carried out to verify the proposed method. Final cross section shapes of the experimental and the simulated results are compared. It is shown that the simulation calculated with supplemented material data based on Swift model agrees well with the experimental results, while the simulation based on original material data could not predict the actual deformation accurately. The results indicate that this material supplement method is reliable and indispensible, and the simulation model can well reflect the real metal forming process. Detailed analysis of the distribution and history of plastic strain at different positions are performed. A new material data supplement method is proposed to tackle the problem which is ignored in other roll forming simulations, and thus the forming process simulation accuracy can be greatly improved.