Influence of process parameters on the residual stress state and properties in disc springs made by incremental sheet forming (ISF)

Abstract

Disc springs are machine elements that are used when high forces need to be supplied and in limited installation space. They need to fulfil high demands on the stability of the spring characteristics, reliability and lifetime. In corrosive environments, metastable austenitic stainless steels (MASS) disc springs are often used. Tensile stresses that occur during service limit the lifetime of disc springs. Usually, their durability is enhanced by generating favorable compressive residual stresses using shot peening operations. Such operations lead to extra efforts and additional production costs. In this study, the adaptive and targeted generation of residual stresses via incremental sheet forming (ISF) is investigated as alternative to shot peening focusing on EN 1.4310 and EN 1.4401 stainless steel. Previous work has shown that ISF is capable of controlling the radial and tangential stresses in the springs. However, no analysis of the influence of the residual stress state in the rolled sheet strips and the ISF process parameters was performed. The goal of the current work is to analyze the evolution of residual stress during rolling and subsequent incremental forming of disc springs. In order to examine the role of dissipation and temperature increases in the rolling process, sheet blanks rolled at room and elevated temperature are analyzed. The characteristics of the compressive residual stresses induced by ISF are studied for different process parameters. X-ray diffraction is used to investigate the buildup of these stresses. Using ISF, the generation of compressive residual stresses can be integrated into the forming process of disc springs, and further post-treatment may be skipped. The results show that the residual stress state in the rolled material is crucial, which requires tight control of the rolling temperature. Another result is that ISF is able to yield high compressive residual stresses and improved spring characteristics when small tool diameters and step-down values are used.