3-D thermo-mechanical coupled FEM simulation of continuous hot rolling process of 60SiMnA spring steel bars and rods

The 3-D thermo-mechanical coupled elasto-plastic finite element method (FEM) was used for the simulation of the twopass continuous hot rolling process of 60SiMnA spring steel bars and rods using MARC/AutoForge3.1 software. The simulated results visualize the metal flow and the dynamic evolutions of the strain, stress and temperature during the continuous hot rolling, especially inside the work-piece. It is shown that the non-uniform distributions of the strain, stress and temperature on the longitudinal and transverse sections are a distinct characteristic of the continuous hot rolling, which can be used as basic data for improving the tool design, predicting and controlling the micro-structural evolution of a bar and rod.