Initial billet temperature influence and location investigation on tool wear in cross wedge rolling

A 3D thermal–mechanical elastic–plastic FE wear model for investigating tool wear in cross wedge rolling (CWR) process was developed and validated in this paper, especially considering the influence of temperature on tool parameters under the circumstance of laboratory. Tool wear, contact stress, and contact temperature along tool wedge ridge path under different initial billet temperatures were investigated. To study the influence of initial billet temperature, the tool wear is considered as the combined effects of tool thermal softening behavior and resistance to workpiece plastic deformation. Unit wear is firstly introduced to describe the effect of the material thermal softening behaviors on tool wear. Results show that tool wear occurs severely along the wedge ridge and reaches its maximum as the workpiece is rolled at a half round. The minimum tool wear can be achieved using appropriate initial billet temperature. The proposed methodology may help CWR manufacturers to design and produce tools that exhibit less wear.