Formability limits and process window based on fracture analysis of 5A02-O aluminium alloy in splitting spinning

Splitting spinning or rotary flow splitting is an advanced forming process for manufacturing axisymmetric integrated parts with bifurcated features and unique characteristics of high-performance and low-weight. During the process, under the kinematic effects of mandrel rotational movement and roller radial feed, plastic deformation occurs accompanied usually by undesirable fracture, which reduces the formability limit (FL). In this study, the kinematic effects on the FL of a 5A02-O aluminium alloy in the splitting spinning process were systematically investigated by finite element simulation based on a modified Lemaitre criterion and physical experiments. The results show that at a given roller feed speed or mandrel rotational speed (forming speed), the FL has a nonlinear relationship with forming speed, which increases firstly and then decreases. With the increase of forming speed, the maximum FL decreases, which appears at the larger forming speed. These variations of FL show that there exists a combined effect of the roller feed speed and mandrel rotational speed, thus a ratio between them, named as the roller feed ratio, is then used to investigate FL. It is found that there exists a critical roller feed ratio of approximately 2 mm/rev, independent of the speeds of roller and mandrel. Below this critical value, the FL increases with the roller feed ratio. While over the critical value, the FL decreases. In addition, the decrease of FL becomes more remarkable with the increase of mandrel rotational speed. Furthermore, the variations of stress triaxiality and tensile plastic strain were analyzed to see their effects on FL. The analyses show that the decrease of tensile plastic strain with the increasing roller feed ratio is dominant the increase of FL below the critical roller feed ratio value. The increase in the stress triaxiality is dominant in the decrease of FL when the roller feed ratio is over the critical value in combination with not too high forming speed, whereas both increases are dominant in the decrease of FL when it is over the critical roller feed ratio value in combination with high forming speed. Based on the kinematic effects of mandrel and roller, the process windows of the splitting spinning process were obtained to improve the FL. It is found that under the condition of the roller feed ratio within 1-2.5 mm/rev, the mandrel rotational speed within 8-100 rev/min and the roller feed speed within 0.5-4 mm/s are helpful to get high FL values. The experiments were carried out to verify the prediction on the FL and the process window. The research provides an in-depth understanding of FL and its affecting factors, and thus lays a basis for process optimization and process parameter configuration.