Superplastic forming optimization technique based on average strain rate controlling – Numerical simulation and experimental validation

M. Rollin (1) , Luc Penazzi (1) , Vincent Velay (1) , A. Dupuy , S. Gallet

1 ICA - Institut Clément Ader

In AIRBUS, most of the complex shaped titanium fairing parts of pylon and air inlets are produced by superplastic forming (SPF). These parts are cooled down after forming to ease their extraction and increase the production rate, but AIRBUS spend a lot of time to go back over the geometric defects generated by the cooling step. This paper investigates the optimization of forming cycles in order to propose rapid forming sequence that suits industrial strategy, and which enable to control microstructure evolutions, and therefore ease material modeling issue for simulation of cooling phase. An optimization algorithm using ABAQUS coupled with MATLAB has been developed in order to improve forming cycles while warrantying superplastic parameters. The optimization technique is based on an algorithm controlling the average strain rate of the non-formed mesh of part instead of the maximum strain rate on the whole mesh for “classical” ABAQUS algorithm. This paper details firstly the optimization algorithm and then presents numerical and experimental results of different forming conditions obtained from industrial, “classical”, and optimized pressure cycle.

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

M. Rollin, Luc Penazzi, Vincent Velay, A. Dupuy, S. Gallet. Superplastic forming optimization technique based on average strain rate controlling – Numerical simulation and experimental validation. EuroSPF 2016, 2016, Toulouse, France. ⟨hal-02049064⟩