Study on the ultrasonic-assisted spinning of thin-walled cylindrical parts with longitudinal and transverse ribs

Abstract Current studies have shown that the application of composite energy fields in the plastic forming process can help reduce the forming load and promote material flow. In this paper, a new method of ultrasonic-assisted spinning integral forming for thin-walled cylindrical parts with outer ribs was proposed, which could not only improve the manufacturing efficiency of ribbed cylindrical parts, but also further improve the forming height of outer ribs. A simulation model of ultrasonic-assisted spinning for thin-walled cylindrical parts with longitudinal and transverse outer ribs was established, the influence of ultrasonic amplitude on the forming accuracy of longitudinal and transverse outer ribs was obtained, and the mechanism of ultrasonic vibration improving the forming accuracy of ribs was revealed. On this basis, ultrasonic-assisted spinning equipment was built to verify the feasibility of this process. The results showed that with the increase of ultrasonic amplitude, the forming height of longitudinal and transverse outer ribs gradually increases, and the effect of raising the forming height of transverse ribs is higher than that of longitudinal ribs. In addition, as the ultrasonic amplitude increases, the uniformity of the forming morphology of the outer rib is not obviously improved. The spinning of the outer rib is mainly realized by the material in the form of integral filling into the groove. The ultrasonic vibration improves the material flow properties, and promotes the filling of the material into the rib groove, thereby increasing the spinning forming height of the outer ribs. The forming height of the outer rib was measured with or without ultrasonic vibration. When the rolling reduction is 1 mm, the average forming height of the outer ribs is increased by 50% compared with that without ultrasound, which provides a new research idea for the integral forming of the spinning of thin-walled cylindrical parts with longitudinal and transverse ribs.