Electric hot incremental forming of Ti-6Al-4V titanium sheet

• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-009-2472-2
• Publication Date: 2009-12-18T22:01:26Z
• Authors: Guoqiang Fan; Fengtao Sun; Xiangguo Meng; Lin Gao; Guoquan Tong
• Keywords: 0203 mechanical engineering; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy

Electric hot incremental forming of metal sheet is a new technique that is feasible and easy to control to form hard-to-form sheet metals. In the present study, Ti-6Al-4V titanium sheet was studied because it was wildly used in the aeronautics and astronautics industries. Although Ti-6Al-4V titanium can be well-formed in high temperature, the surface quality is a problem. In order to enhance the surface quality, it is very important to select the proper lubricant. At the same time, because Ti-6Al-4V titanium has a lively chemical property, it is very important to choose a processing temperature range in order to acquire excellent plastic property and to prevent oxidation. Various lubricants were selected in processing to compare the effect, and some workpieces were formed at different temperatures to find the best forming temperature. The results show that using the lubricant film of nickel matrix with MoS2 self-lubricating material, Ti-6Al-4V titanium workpiece was formed with high surface quality, and the optimum thickness of composite coating is 20 μm for Ti-6Al-4V titanium sheet of 1.0-mm thickness. In fact, the lubricant film also does help to prevent oxidation of Ti-6Al-4V titanium sheet. The appropriate temperature range of Ti-6Al-4V forming with slightly oxidized is 500–600°C in processing, and the maximum draw angle formed in this range was 72°.