Study On The Loading Path Of Hydroforming Process For Retaining Ring

China is the major country in energy consumption, building the world’s largestpower-supply network. Retaining ring is the most important part of generator, highperformance, complex manufacturing, has been being the key technology of large forgings.Currently, due to the impact of materials, tools and process conditions, the strengtheningprocess of retaining ring which domestic commonly used is easy to appear the concavedrum and convex drum. Therefore, how to reasonably control the technologicalparameters, avoid forming defects and improve the forming quality of retaining ring,becomes the key technology of retaining ring forming.For a given performance requirements and material of the retaining ring, the keytechnology is to reasonably control the internal pressure, the axial force and itsrelationship, which is loading path. In this paper, based on the NTA hydraulic bulgingtechnology of retaining ring, combining the elastic-plastic theory, the loading path ofinternal pressure and die pressure and its necessary conditions of sealing have been given.This paper studies on the loading path of the retaining ring hydroforming process byFEM methods. Firstly, the effect of different technological parameters, such as themaximum internal pressure, die angle, compensation factor, contact width and coefficientof friction, on loading path of retaining ring was analyzed. Then, by using orthogonalexperiments, the relationship of various parameters on retaining ring forming was given.The relationship between die pressure and internal pressure with different contactwidth has been given by experimental data, which confirmed that there is a quantitativerelation between internal pressure and the normal contact pressure. This is a boundarycondition for the loading path.Using the above conclusion, the hydraulic bulging parameters of the retaining ringwere designed. Verify the reasonableness of the method to determine the loading path ofretaining ring with experiment.