Finite element simulation and experimental study of residual stress in piston manufacturing process

Aluminum alloy piston surface residual stress variation with manufacturing procedure was examined using Drilling Hole Method. It is found that in rough turning step, the residual stress increases to 120 MPa, It is the key step liable to generate machining defects. Based on the Software ABAQUS, thermal elastic-plastic orthogonal cutting model was establisher and used to this step simulation employing mesh adaptive technology. The effects of the loading, unloading and cooling steps in the real cutting process were also accounted. Results reveal that the residual stress distribution exhibits a low-high-low trend along the cutting direction; and in the depth direction it turns from tensile stress to compressive stress. The maximum residual tensile stress increases with cutting speed increasing, and its incremental magnitude decreases. Utilizing the method to drill layer-by-layer, the residual stress values and distributions in depth direction under different cutting speeds are measured and credibility of the simulation is verified by these data.