Influences of Ribs on the Residual Stress and Deformation of Long Stringer Aluminum Alloy Forgings During Quenching

To improve the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy forgings, solution treatment and quenching is necessary. However, it becomes difficult to control the residual stress and deformation after solution treatment and quenching which always results in obtaining a part with an undesirable size, especially for a long stringer forging with an existing rib. Therefore, this paper demonstrates a quenching experiment and residual stress measurements for a ribbed aluminum alloy forging; the calculated results are close to the actual convective heat transfer coefficients. In addition, the heat transfer coefficient is introduced into the quenching simulation of a long stringer forging consisting of rib-web forging and plate forging. The influence of ribs on the residual stress and deformation of the forging is compared and analyzed. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient on the web without a rib is highest and the heat transfer coefficient on the web below the rib is lowest. Compared with the plate forging, the deformation direction of the rib-web forging is opposite, and the deformation of the rib-web forging is obviously increased.