An Investigation of the Effective Factors in the Shape Rolling Process of a Compressor Blade

One of the most popular forming processes is the shape rolling process in which the desired shape change is achieved by pressing two rollers with a special shape in the opposite rotational direction. In order to improve the product’s quality and reduce production costs, accurate analysis of the shape rolling process of the compressor blades as well as the investigation of the effective parameters have been done. First, the shape rolling process of a typical compressor blade was simulated based on the experimental data using the finite element method and Design of Experiment (DOE). Then, the effect of various process parameters, including the thickness and width of the preform, the roller diameter, the thickness and width of the flash channel, and the number of the rolling steps on two objectives, namely the rolling force and the amount of the flash were investigated. The obtained data were analyzed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and the contributory factors of the shape rolling process were identified. The results revealed that all of the considered factors affected the rolling load, but only the initial sheet's width and thickness were the factors with impact on the volume of the flash as the second objective. The required process load decreased by increasing the number of the rolling steps, but the rolling load increased by increasing other factors. Furthermore, increasing the thickness and width of the initial sheet increased the flash volume.