Study of stress development in axi-symmetric products processed by radial forging using 3-D nonlinear FEM

Hollow shaft, a popular axi-symmetric machine element, is frequently used in the severe service conditions such as automobile transmission, shafts of aircraft, and turbine shafts. It is usually manufactured through radial forging process. Residual stress in those forged products directly affects material stability, resistance to deformation, accuracy, and fatigue life of products. In order to extend the operating life of products and satisfy the quality of operation during the customer usage, it is necessary to monitor residual stresses during the forging operations.