TITAFORM - Precision Hot Forming, development of innovative hot-forming processes of aeronautical components in Ti-alloy with low buy/fly ratio: an Italian example of co-operation between academy and industry
In the paper the description of the project TITAFORM is provided. The project has been financed on the call "PON Linea 1" of the Italian government and represents an effective example of cooperation between academy and industry. The project is focused on the beta forging and hot stretch forming operations of titanium alloys. �� 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Beta-forging of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy powders consolidated by HIP: Plastic flow and strain-rate relation
Ti6Al4V is probably the best known and studied titanium alloy, not only for aerospace applications. Nevertheless the deformation behavior still represents a challenge if any modification in the deformation process is required or introduced. This work deals with deformation behavior description of Ti6Al4V HIPped powders during high temperature deformation tests carried on in the Beta-region. Laboratory compression and tensile tests have been coupled with relaxation tests in order to achieve robust data about strain rate sensibility m-coefficient and activation energy Q. These results have been fitted for the assessment of a more general exponential deformation law. The final result is a “Dor…
Mechanical and microstructural characterization of titanium gr.5 parts produced by different manufacturing routes
Abstract In recent years, the aircraft industry has shifted its preference for metal parts to titanium and its alloys, such as the high-strength Titanium Grade5 alloy. Because of Titanium Grade 5 limited formability at ambient temperature, forming operations on this material require high temperatures. In these conditions, a peculiar microstructure evolves as a result of the heating and deformation cycles, which has a significant impact on formability and product quality. On the other hand, additive manufacturing technologies, as selective laser melting and electron beam melting, are increasingly being used and are replacing more traditional approaches such as machining and forging. Fundamen…
ELECTROCHEMICAL ANALYSIS ON FRICTION STIR WELDED AND LASER WELDED 6XXX ALUMINIUM ALLOYS T-JOINTS
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) and Laser Welding (LW) can be successfully employed to weld aluminium alloys, in many cases overcoming the difficulties encountered with more conventional welding processes like MIG or TIG. The corrosion resistance of the welded joint remains, however, an important issue, especially in applications (like in aircrafts), where corrosion can induce structural failure: the weld region has often lower mechanical resistance in comparison with the parent material and a decrease in its corrosion resistance, especially when the corrosion damage can represent a potential crack initiation site, can be unacceptable in components design. In this work the corrosion resistance …
Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Microstructure Evolution during Linear Friction Welding of Ti6Al4V
Abstract Linear Friction Welding (LFW) is a solid state welding process used to joint bulk components. In the paper, an experimental and numerical study on LFW of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy is presented. A laboratory designed LFW machine has been used to weld the specimens with different contact pressure and oscillation frequency. The joint microstructure has been experimentally observed with SEM and EDS. A dedicated numerical model, able to predict temperature, strain and strain rate distribution as well as the phase volume fraction evolution, has been utilized to predict the final microstructure in the welded parts. It was found that complete transformation of the alpha phase into beta phase …
Beta forging of Ti-6Al-4V: Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties
Titanium alloys are finding an increasing use in the aeronautical field, due to their characteristics of high mechanical properties, lightness and corrosion resistance. Moreover these alloys are compatible with the carbon fibre reinforced plastics that are also finding a wide use in the aeronautical field. On the other hand the use of these alloys implies some drawbacks, for example titanium alloys are often considered more difficult to form and generally have less predictable forming characteristics than other metallic alloys such as steel and aluminum. In this paper was studied both the microstructure evolution and the mechanical properties of a Ti-6Al-4V rolled bar after hot forging. The…
Metallurgical Evolutions in Hot Forging of Dual Phase Titanium Alloys: Numerical Simulation and Experiments
Titanium forging has been encountering a growing interest in the scientific and industrial communities because of the distinct advantages it provides with respect to machining, in terms of both mechanical properties of the product and material waste, thus significantly reducing the Buy to Fly ratio. In the paper, a numerical FE model, based on a tri-coupled approach and able to predict the microstructural evolutions of the workpiece during the process, is developed and set up. Calculated results are compared to experiments for a few industrial case studies. The final phases distribution in the forged parts is experimentally measured and compared to the FE model output finding satisfying ove…
Surface and mechanical characterization of stationary shoulder friction stir welded lap joints: experimental and numerical approach
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is one of the most used solid-state welding processes in the aeronautical, aerospace, ground transportation and naval fields. Stationary Shoulder Friction Stir Welding (SSFSW) is a recently introduced variant of the process allowing lower heat input into the joints, with beneficial effects in terms of joint mechanical properties, microstructure and top surface finish. In the paper, lap joints produced by SSFSW and made out of AA6082-T6 aluminum alloy sheets have been analyzed with the aim to investigate the effect of the stationary shoulder on the lap joints surface, metallurgical, and mechanical properties. The lap joints produced by SSFSW have been compared to …
FSW of AA2139-T8 Butt joints for aeronautical applications
The effect of process parameters on mechanical and microstructural properties of AA 2139 T8 joints produced by friction stir welding (FSW) was analysed by means of statistical tools. Three different parameters were taken into account: angular speed ( ω), welding speed ( va), and plunging depth ( p); each of them was varied on three levels. Forces and temperatures achieved during the welding were monitored and analysed for all joints. An accurate microstructural analysis was performed: the occurrence of some remarkable defects, typical of FSW, such as tunnel or lack of penetration, was related to actual process parameters adopted. The extension of each FSW characteristic zone was measured a…