A new rotary forming process for rim thickening of a disc-like sheet metal part

A new rotary forming process used to thicken the rim of a disc-like part was proposed. The paper details the results, design and manufacture of the corresponding apparatus. The center point of a ring roller moves around the axis of a stationary work-piece in a plane spiral locus, like a rounding hula hoop. Thereby, the rim of stationary work-piece is rolled and thickened. A design rule for the rotary thickening process of the disc-like part was proposed, and a formula for calculating the feeding force of the roller was deduced. Both the design rule and the formula were verified by the results of experiment and finite element simulation. The forming and flow law during the thickening process were also illustrated.