Coupled thermo-mechanical FE simulation of the hot splitting spinning process of magnesium alloy AZ31

Magnesium alloy AZ31 shows excellent ductility and formability at elevated temperatures, and using hot splitting spinning it can be formed into a structural component subjected to impact loadings, such as, a wheel hub of aero undercarriage or kinds of light whole wheels. In this paper, based on the analysis of microstructures and deformation characteristics of magnesium alloy AZ31, a reasonable deformation temperature range is obtained during the thermoplastic forming process. Adopting a flow stress model of magnesium alloy AZ31 considering the dynamic recrystallization (DRX), a 3D elastic–plastic FE model of hot splitting spinning of magnesium alloy AZ31 is established based on the FEM software platform of ABAQUS/Explicit and a developed 3D-FE model of cold splitting spinning, and its reliability is validated. Furthermore, field distributions of deformed component, including temperature fields, stress fields and strain fields, and variations of different nodal temperatures are obtained. And the influencing laws of different initial temperatures of disk blank and different feed rates of splitting roller on forming quality of deformed flanges are investigated, consequently the optimal forming temperature is approximate 300 °C and the optimal feed rate of splitting roller ranges from 1 to 3 mm/s during the hot splitting spinning process of magnesium alloy AZ31. The results may help to understand the forming characteristics and optimum design of the hot splitting spinning process.