Finite element modelling of cold pilgering of tubes

Abstract

Cold pilgering is a cold forming process used during manufacturing of seamless tubes. The tube with a mandrel inside is fed forward and rotated in stepwise increments, while the roll stand moves back and forth. The total plastic deformation of the tube is such that the cross-sectional area of the tube decreases and the length of the tube increases during the process. However, this is performed in many small incremental steps, where the direction of deformation in a material point changes at each stroke. Most published models of cold pilgering use simplified material models. In reality, the flow stress is dependent on temperature, strain rate, strain history and microstructure. In this work, temperature and strain rate distributions are computed, using a 3D thermo-mechanical FE model, and the influence of temperature and strain rate on the rolling force is investigated. The Johnson-Cook model is employed to describe the flow stress using isotropic hardening. The results show that strain rate and temperature havea significant influence on the roll separation force.