CAE for forging of titanium alloy aero-engine disc and integration with CAD-CAM for publication of the dies.

Titanium alloy aero-engine turbine discs are subjected to stringent quality requirements pertaining to dimensional tolerances and mechanical properties. Therefore, the forging process of the disc is meticulously designed. This paper primarily deals with computer-aided engineering (CAE) of the die profile as well as the process design for the forging and in addition briefly addresses the integration of CAE with computer-aided design–computer-aided manufacturing (CAD–CAM) for the fabrication of the dies. The CAE involves study of (i) mechanics of the material flow using large deformation FEA for streamlined flow and (ii) the mechanisms of deformation using dynamic materials modelling (DMM) technique for the process optimization. In addition, concurrent modelling using DMM as well as finite element modelling (FEM) facilitates understanding the development of microstructure at different locations in the forged component. The predicted flow pattern and the load-stroke values are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. The results of the CAE are fed to a CAD environment and finally linked to CAM for the fabrication (precision machining) of the dies. This integrated approach is cost effective and time saving