Reduction of die roll height in duplex gears through a sheet bulk metal forming method
In the existing shearing processes for fabricating parts such as duplex gears, die roll is difficult to avoid. Accordingly, a method based on sheet bulk metal forming for fabricating a duplex gear with extremely small die roll in one stroke is proposed in the current work. The process could be divided into three stages according to the forming features: upsetting and shearing stage, lateral extrusion stage, and local filling stage. The die roll appeared in the shearing stage, which could be reduced in the subsequent extrusion and local filling stages. To reveal the underground mechanism, material flows under two situations, as a key factor to influence the forming quality, were compared and investigated. The results revealed that by controlling material flow, one could avoid the defects and reduce the die roll.