Lightweight Design of Steel Wheel Introducing the Disc Spinning Process

Abstract The steel wheel consists of wheel disc and rim. The wheel disc is manufactured by using power spinning process. The spinning process does not guarantee that the design scheme can be realized accurately. In this paper, the simulation method of the disc spinning process is investigated, and introduced to the lightweight design of steel wheel. Firstly, the power spinning process is simulated, and the validity of the simulation method is verified by test. Then two optimization schemes of the disc are proposed. Finally, the forming quality of the products from the optimization schemes is analyzed by spinning process simulation. The results show that the product from the optimal scheme may not be optimal since the effect of the forming quality in the spinning process. To obtain the optimal performance of product, it is very necessary to evaluate the design scheme by introducing the disc spinning process in the design stage of wheel disc.