Study on superplastic blow-forming of 8090 Al–Li sheets in an ellip-cylindrical closed-die

The purpose of this paper is to explore the plastic deformation behavior of the sheet during blow-forming of a superplastic sheet into an ellip-cylindrical closed-die by the finite element method. A finite element commercial code “DEFORM” is used to carry out the simulations and calculate the pressurization profile and sheet thickness distribution during the blow-forming process. A pressure control algorithm is proposed to keep the maximum strain rate in the deformation zone of the sheet equal to the target value, which corresponds to the highest m value of the material being superplastically formed. The effects of various forming conditions, such as the friction coefficient between the sheet and die and the aspect ratio of the die, on the forming pressure and thickness distribution of the product are discussed. Experiments using 8090 Al–Li sheets on superplastic blow-forming in an ellip-cylindrical closed-die are also carried out. The theoretical predictions of thickness distribution of the product are compared with experimental results.