Avoiding crack nucleation and propagation during upset bulging of tubes

As an alternative to joining by fusion welding, joining by upset bulging (JUB) can be applied in cases where tubes are joined to plates, sheet metal, or other tubes and profiles. If a tube is joined to a pierced flat plate, joining is accomplished by creating bulges in the tube by axial compression, which enclose and securely lock the plate. The JUB process has a large potential for reducing cycle times, realizing joints between different materials and for increasing the dimensional accuracy of the joints compared to fusion welding. The joints produced by this forming technique are free from the negative impact of heat affected zones on the material properties. However, the material undergoes large plastic deformation during the JUB process. When the bulges are fully compressed, local damage and failure can be observed which reduce the service life properties of the joints. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of the damage evolution and crack initiation in mechanical joining by upset bulging. Experiments were carried out to analyse the occurrence of failure. The results are supported by FE analyses. Nucleation of cracks strongly depends on the final bulge height and consequently on the degree of deformation on the inner side of bulges. Tensile tests show that cracks in the bulge reduce the strength of the joint to half of the undamaged material. A new bulge design with a modified shape is presented, which reduces the damaging effect of the upset bulging process and thus improves the strength of the joints.     

Numerical study of superplastic deformation with superimposed pressure for cavity sensitive materials

Abstract

The non-uniform deformation (necking and thinning) development and fracture of superplastic materials under both uniaxial tension and circular sheet bulging are numerically analysed by considering the effects of strain rate sensitivity and cavity growth with superimposed pressure. It is found that the fracture mode, which is controlled by both strain rate sensitivity and cavity growth rate, can be changed by superimposed pressure from fracture without external necking for cavity sensitive alloys at zero pressure to fracture with necking development or extensive thinning at pressure large enough to completely suppress cavity growth. Fracture mechanism diagrams are presented which enable prediction of the fracture mode to be made as a function of material parameters and pressure conditions for uniaxial tension and bulging.

MST/724     

孔洞敏感超塑性材料变形的数值分析

本文用两种数值方法,非线性长波分析和刚粘塑性有限元方法研究了孔洞敏感的超塑性材料在单向拉伸和园板涨形中的不均匀变形和断裂过程。分析表明,这种过程是不均匀几何失稳与内部孔洞长大的结合与相互作用的结果。材料的应变速率敏感性指数与孔洞长大速率通过不同的变形机理图控制着这种过程。叠加的静水压力能够改变孔洞敏感材料的断裂模式,从常压下没有宏观颈缩的孔洞断裂到无内部孔洞的外部颈缩断裂。     

Control of cavitation during superplastic forming of high strength aluminium alloys

Abstract

This investigation deals with superplastic deformation and cavitation behaviour of a 7475 high strength aluminium alloy in uniaxial tension. Intergranular cavitation increases sharply with strain as a result of continuous nucleation, thus limiting the ductility to relatively small strains in the superplastic range and affecting the room temperature service properties. To reduce the overall cavitation, several processes have been carried out. They involve treatments of the material with or without superimposed hydrostatic pressure and they can be applied before, during, or after deformation. The results of these processes are presented and compared. It is concluded that cavitation can be significantly reduced and even eliminated. Such a result can increase the use of superplastic forming for industrial applications in aeronautics and aerospace technology.

MST/985     

AZ80镁合金板材快速气压胀形工艺研究

快速气压胀形是一种源自超塑性气压胀形的新成形技术,为获得AZ80镁合金板材的快速气压胀形成形性能,以挤压-冷轧加工的AZ80镁合金板材为研究对象,采用半球件自由胀形实验研究了1.0 mm厚板材在250~400℃和0.4~1.6 MPa下的快速气压胀形能力,分析了半球件和盒形件的壁厚分布规律,并对快速气压胀形过程的断裂模式进行了研究.研究结果表明,AZ80镁合金板材在350℃下具有良好的快速气压胀形能力,在350℃、0.8 MPa下的胀形高度可达38 mm,高径比达到0.95,并得到胀破高度、胀形高度与胀形时间之间的关系.在此基础上,进行了1.2 mm厚板材的盒形件快速气压胀形实验,得到高20 mm的轮廓清晰、表面质量良好的胀形件.     

Biaxial deformation of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-4V/TiC composites by transformation-mismatch superplasticity

Gas-pressure bulge forming of unreinforced Ti-6Al-4V and TiC-reinforced Ti-6Al-4V was performed while cycling the temperature around the allotropic transformation range of the alloy (880–1020 °C). The resulting domes exhibited very large strains to fracture without cavitation, demonstrating for the first time the use of transformation-mismatch superplasticity under a biaxial state of stress for both an alloy and a composite. Furthermore, much faster deformation rates were observed upon thermal cycling than for control experiments performed under the same gas pressure at a constant temperature of 1000°C, indicating that efficient superplastic forming of complex shapes can be achieved by transformation-mismatch superplasticity, especially for composites which are difficult to shape with other techniques. However, the deformation rate of the cycled composite was lower than for the alloy, most probably because the composite exhibits lower primary and secondary isothermal creep rates. For both cycled materials, the spatial distribution of principal strains is similar to that observed in domes deformed by isothermal microstructural superplasticity and the forming times can be predicted with existing models for materials with uniaxial strain rate sensitivity of unity. Thus, biaxial transformation-mismatch superplasticity can be modeled within the well-known frame of biaxial microstructural superplasticity, which allows accurate predictions of forming time and strain spatial distribution once the uniaxial constitutive equation of the material is known.     

Application of rigid–plastic meso-damage constitutive theory to superplastic bulge forming

Abstract

A rigid–plastic meso-damage constitutive theory is applied to predict the influence of void evolution on the superplastic forming process. Together with this constitutive theory, a simple analytical model is used to simulate the bulge forming process of a spherical dome. The distribution and evolution of damage, deformation, geometrical parameters, and mechanical properties such as strength and ductility throughout the bulging dome are systematically explored. Since a series of numerical results obtained are in good agreement with the actual phenomena and previous experimental results, the applicability of the rigid–plastic meso-damage constitutive theory to superplastic forming processes is considered proven.     

Material model calibration for superplastic forming

Superplastic forming is a slow forming process. The forming time can be minimized by optimizing the pressure profile applied to the forming sheet. The optimization of the superplastic forming pressure is usually done such that a target strain rate at a high strain rate sensitivity is maintained. Careful consideration of the strain rate is required, since localized thinning can occur when the material is strained too quickly. This paper demonstrates that it is essential to explicitly include strain rate sensitivity data, obtained from strain rate jump tests, during the calibration of material model used for superplastic forming simulations. Conventional calibration methods only consider stress–strain data at different strain rates. Such an approach implicitly assumes that a material model that matches the stress–strain data at the different strain rates, will automatically match strain rate sensitivity data. However, by explicitly including the strain rate sensitivity data, the selected material model is more susceptible to localized thinning as the applied strain rate is increased. It is essential for the selected material model to exhibit this behaviour to prevent superplastic forming simulations at high strain rates from predicting stable deformation, when in fact localized thinning will occur.     

Deformation behaviour in superplastic 5083 Al alloy during biaxial gas pressure forming with lubrication

Abstract

Effect of lubrication on deformation behaviour of a superplastic material has been given little attention, although it is important for industrial application. In this paper, a superplastic 5083 Al alloy under biaxial deformation was investigated by deforming the sheet into a cylindrical die cavity with and without lubrication. Several interrupted tests were performed to bulge the sheets to various depths for two different strain rates, the formed parts were then utilised to evaluate the effect of lubrication on metal flow, thickness distribution and cavitation. It was found that reducing the interfacial friction by use of a lubricant improved the metal flow after the deformed sheet had made contact with the bottom surface of die. Changes of the metal flow during forming not only developed a better thickness distribution of the formed part, but also reduced cavitation levels.     

Prediction of non-uniform thinning in superplastically formed spherical domes

Abstract

Superplastic forming is an attractive manufacturing process, which allows the production of complex sheet metal components. The gas pressure bulging of metal sheets has become an important forming method. As the bulging process progresses, significant thinning in the sheet material becomes obvious. A prior knowledge about non-uniform thinning in the product after forming helps the designer in the selection of initial blank thickness. This paper suggests a simple procedure to obtain the variation in thickness of a gas pressure formed spherical dome at any instant of time during the bulging process. This simple procedure is validated by comparing predicted and measured thicknesses of a formed titanium hemispherical dome.     

Effect of inverted pressurisation profile on deformation characteristics of 5083 aluminium alloy during superplastic forming

Abstract

Decreasing the cycle time for superplastic forming of a commercially available superplastic 5083 aluminium alloy has been studied in the present work by use of an inverted pressurisation profile. A right cylindrical cup with a depth/ diameter ratio of 0·5 could be superplastically gas pressure formed in less than 100 s. The deformation behaviour was similar to that of constant strain forming during the free bulging stage. In this stage, a stress state gradient from the pole to the edge of the formed dome was observed. Plasticity controlled growth of cavities was thought to be the mechanism for the increase of cavity volume fraction during forming. After the centre point of the deformed sheet touched the die surface, the metal flow pattern was found to be different from that of the traditional approach. The minimum thickness was not located at around the bottom corner of the cylindrical cup rather it was located ~ 7.5 mm away from the bottom centre of the cup with radius 20 mm. Significant cavity nucleation and coalescence caused higher cavity growth rates at large strains, owing to the continuous increase in strain rate resulting from the imposed pressurisation profile.     

铝合金板材热塑性变形行为研究

为了研究铝合金板材的热塑性变形行为,进行了热态胀形试验,获取了不同温度及压力率下的胀形压力-高度曲线,分析了压力率对胀形高度的影响规律.基于同一压力率、不同温度下胀形压力与等效应变之间的关系,提出胀形压力关于等效应变及压力率的拟合方程,同时获得压力率和应变率之间的函数关系.试验结果表明,板材充液热成形工艺过程中,压力率对金属材料的变形行为影响显著,同时压力率能够表征材料成形过程中的变形快慢.     

On the pressure forming of two superplastic alloys

Superplastic forming of the Ti-6Al-4V and Sn-Pb eutectic alloys was attempted using the pressure forming (sheet thermoforming) process. It has been demonstrated that true hemispheres could be formed out of sheets of both the alloys. The thickness strains in both the alloys were less than those predicted theoretically and this could be traced to material flow from the flange and gripped regions. This flow, however, was greater in case of the titanium alloy than the Sn-Pb alloy, on account of the greater strain-rate sensitivity of the former material. Due to the same effect, the thinning factor actually increased with deformation in the titanium alloy, but it decreased on increasing deformation in the Sn-Pb alloy. Within the experimental range, the hold-down pressure (titanium alloy) and initial sheet thickness (Sn-Pb alloy) had very small effects, although the deformation became slightly more uniform on decreasing the hold-down pressure or increasing the initial sheet thickness. The thickness and circumferential strains increased with deformation and in particular when the bulge height (h ₀) to base diameter (D ₀) ratio was greater than 0.35, non-uniformity in deformation along the bulge profile became noticeable. These strains were largest at the pole and its vicinity. On account of its lower strain-rate sensitivity, these effects were more pronounced in the Sn-Pb alloy than in the titanium alloy. Although initially the bulging rate was rapid, later the (h ₀/D ₀) ratio increased linearly with the forming time and at any instant the bulge profile corresponded to an arc of a circle.     

Post-forming tensile properties of superplastically bulge formed high strength α/β Ti–Al–Mo–Sn–Si alloy (IMI 550)

Abstract

The effect of biaxial superplastic deformation at 900°C on ambient temperature tensile properties and texture of high strength α/β titanium alloy sheet of nominal composition Ti–4Al–4Mo–2Sn–0·5Si (IMI 550) has been examined. Superplastic straining led to significant decreases in both proof stress and tensile strength values. Heat cycling studies on as received sheet material showed that the decreases in strength were in part due to the influence of temperature, but this had little effect on elongation. The further losses in strength after superplastic forming were attributable to grain growth. The decreases in elongation after superplastic deformation were believed to be due mainly to changes of tensile specimen geometry, while the more isotropic tensile behaviour which was observed was due to the gradual removal of the relatively low level of texture in the as received material. Application of the standard heat treatment to the as received IMI 550 sheet material led to increases in proof stress and tensile strength values of ~70 and ~170 MN m^?2, respectively, and to a slight decrease in elongation. Heat treatment of heat cycled and superplastically bulge formed specimens increased the proof stress and tensile strength values almost to the levels attained in the as received material.

MST/684     

FRACTURE TYPES AND THICKNESS DISTRIBUTION IN SUPERPLASTIC SHEETS FORMED WITH PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDING

This paper investigated the fracture types and thickness ratio distribution in superplastic Zn-22% Al sheets formed during a hybrid process combining superplastic forming with plastic injection molding. Three types of sheet fractures (edge crack, central crack, and combined crack) were observed. The effects of using this approach on sheet molding and fracture window for various parameters, including melt temperature, injection pressure, and mold temperature, were investigated. They are presented and discussed as they relate to molding area and various fracture types. Central cracks occurred when superplastic sheets were formed by injection molding at higher melt temperature, whereas edge cracks occurred at higher injection pressure. When melt flow was parallel to the sheet rolling direction, areas of edge crack were enlarged. The sheet thickness ratio distribution was obtained for various injection parameters and rib depths. Observation of sheet thickness distribution for variation parameters, and the tendency for fracture can be generalized.     

Effect of stress state on cavitation and hole growth in superplastic AA 7475 aluminium alloy

Abstract

A study has been made of the growth of cavities and of artificial holes in AA 7475 alloy sheet material during both uniaxial and equibiaxial tensile straining, with the object of clarifying the effect of stress state on cavitation during superplastic flow. The growth rate of cavities with strain was observed to be lower for uniaxial tension than for equibiaxial tension. An analysis of artificial hole growth data supports these observations, and is consistent with the view that continuous cavity nucleation and cavity coalescence lead to an increase in the apparent cavity growth rate during superplastic flow.

MST/1149     

5A06 铝合金板材超塑气胀成形数值模拟

目的改善5A06铝合金板材超塑性气胀成形件壁厚分布。方法采用MARC有限元分析方法,对商业供货态5A06-O铝合金板材(原始厚度为2 mm)的超塑性成形进行数值模拟分析。结果优化后的反吹预减薄变形,使杯形件最终壁厚分布大大改善,最薄处壁厚从单纯正吹胀形时的0.65 mm提高到了0.94 mm,壁厚均匀性指数达到0.079。结论合理的反胀形模具可以增加最小壁厚,达到提高壁厚均匀性的目的。     

材料参数及静水压力对超塑性胀形影响的数值模拟

本文将含有变形损伤的本构关系引入刚粘塑性有限元程序,用于超塑性胀形的数值分析,讨论了应变速率敏感性,孔洞长大及静水压对极限成形应变的影响,并与文献发表的实验结果进行了比较。     

Comparison of superplastic forming abilities of as‐cast AZ91 magnesium alloy prepared by twin roll casting and WE43 magnesium alloy

This paper describes and compares the superplastic behaviour and microstructural evolution of twin roll cast AZ91 and WE43 rolled sheet alloys. Tests were carried out in uniaxial tension on both alloys across a range of temperatures (300 °C–525 °C) and strain rates (1?10^‐4 s^‐1–1?10^‐1 s^‐1). In the case of WE43 gas bulge testing was employed at 400 °C and 0.6 MPa to offer a better analogy to superplastic forming than uniaxial tensile testing. Elongations of over 400 % were observed within WE43 when tested at 450 °C and 1?10^‐3 s^‐1 strain rate, and over 200 % within AZ91 when tested at 350 °C and 1?10^‐3 s^‐1 strain rate. A peak cone height of 41 mm was achieved with WE43 at a temperature of 400 °C and pressure of 0.6 MPa. Electron back scattered detection technique was employed to analyse the microstructural evolution of the two alloys during the forming process. Both WE43 and AZ91 were observed to undergo dynamic recrystallization during elevated temperature tensile testing and failed at low strain rates mainly by means of coalescence of cavitation, in the case of AZ91 at high strain rates cracking of Al₁₂Mg₁₇ intermetallic particles was the dominating failure mechanism. Both alloys were seen to achieve good levels of superplastic ductility over 200 % elongation, which would be industrially useful in niche vehicle and aerospace manufacturing.