A Comparative Analysis of Forming Railway Axles in 3- and 4-Roll Rolling Mills

The paper presents a comparative analysis of skew rolling in 3- and 4-roll CNC rolling mills. The analysis is performed using the FEM-based commercial simulation software Simufact.Forming. The formation of both solid and hollow railway axles is analyzed. Distributions of effective strain, temperature and damage criterion in rolled axles are determined, and loads and torques acting on the tools during rolling are estimated. An innovative concept of calibrating hollow axles by the rotary compression technique developed at the Lublin University of Technology is presented. Experimental tests of rolling solid axles in a 3-roll rolling mill (in a scale of 1:5) are performed, and basic force parameters of the rolling process are measured. Numerical and experimental loads and torques show a high agreement in terms of both quality and quantity.