A novel method to control stress distribution and machining-induced deformation for thin-walled metallic parts

Abstract

Abstract In the precision machining of thin-walled planar components, the initial residual stress of the workpiece could lead to subsequent deformation after machining, which influences the geometrical accuracy of the final parts. Generally, conventional methods, such as stress-relief annealing and vibration stress relief, are implemented to reduce the magnitude of the residual stress. However, the distribution of the residual stress, which is more significant to the machining accuracy for thin-walled parts, is difficult to be adjusted in these methods. This article proposes a novel method to control the stress distribution and magnitude during the manufacturing process and thus reduce the machining-induced deformation for the thin-walled planar part of pure copper. In this method, symmetrical distribution of residual stress is introduced by multi-pass rolling, quenching, stress-relief annealing, and turnover turning. The stress field and deformation of the part are predicted by finite element modeling in the whole process. The part deformation after machining is verified by the experiments. The results show that compared with the traditional stress-relief annealing, this novel method could reduce the part deformation after machining and improve the geometrical accuracy for thin-walled parts.