SUPERPLASTIC

FORMING
ME 530
Near-Net Shape Manufacturing

Instructor
Dr. Neda Fabris

By Ansul Kumar Singh

 What is Super Plastic Forming ?
 Super Plastic Forming is a process by which
complex parts are produced from a single
sheet of super plastic material

 It works upon the theory of Super plasticity


 Super plasticity is the ability of material to

undergo extreme elongation allowing for
deep drawing and intricate shapes

Which means materials can elongate more than 150% of its


original size



 In fact materials can elongate up to 8000%

 At certain temperature and controlled strain rate



 SPF Process
A sheet of material is placed into a hot open die and

heated up to Super plastic temperature ( Ti – 900 C,

Al- 500 C)

Inert Gas pressure (Ar) is applied which plastically

deforms the sheet into shape of die cavity.

Process Diagram
 Types of SPF
1- Vacuum /Stretch Forming-
 Gas pressure differential is applied on
the super plastic diaphragm causing the
material to form into die cavity shape.
 Applied pressure – 100 Kpa


 2- Blow Forming- Additional pressure is

applied from gas reservoir. Max
applied pressure is
 700Kpa – 3400 Kpa

 Super plastic Forming Lab Press
Used for SPF of Ti aircraft parts

TITANIUM SUPERPLASTIC FORMING PRESS COURTESY OF AEROMET
INTERNATIONAL1.5M

CAPABLE OF 910⁰C, 500 TON CLAMPING LOAD AND 2M X PLATEN SIZE

 SPF Alloys
1- Al alloys 5083,7485


2- Ti alloys TA6V


3- Inconel 718


4- Bi-Sn (200% elongation)



5- Zr-Al



 Advantages
1- Large complex work-pieces in one operation only


2-Eliminates Springback


3- Fine surface finish.



4- Cost savings ranges up to 30%



5- Reduces weight by eliminating nuts, bolts and fasteners



6- Near net complex shapes




 Disadvantages
1- Slow forming rate (Cycle time 2 min to 4 hrs.)


2-High material cost



3-Trial and error design



4-Lack of accurate modeling




 Industries Using SPF
 Aeronautics


 Automotive


 Railways


 Building


 Medical


 Sports
 Application
Civil/ Military aircrafts- (Ti, Al alloys)


Sensor Housing Fan blade section

Nose Cover Center Automotive body panels

Window Frames
Sheet structures
 Thin Frame Structure
Closing Shell

SPF parts in Al Alloy

Complex Structures
Heat Exchangers
 SPF Forming Softwares
 Used to follow the variation of thickness of the sheets
during forming in order to predict the
 geometry of component after forming.


ARVIP-3D


CATIA


CAM Craft Design



ABAQUS



 Recent SPF Tool Technology
 To control the total price of super plastically formed
 components, new tools have been developed recently.


Metallic tools Non Metallic tools

 Emerging Technologies


 Quick Plastic Forming

 It is a hot blow forming process capable of producing Al or
Mg panels at relatively high volumes. The conditions of
deformation are quite close to conditions corresponding to
super plastic forming with however strain rates significantly
higher than those associated to "pure" super plasticity.


This technology has been successfully implemented for

automotive lift gates and deck lids with complex shapes for
various car productions.
 Project SPLICE
 SPLICE - Super Plastic Laser Induced Component
Equipment research at Rolls-Royce, UK.

 Laser will be used for all operations virtually
 Required to produce SPF component from cutting the initial
blank from sheet material to final trimming to hole drilling
after forming.

Conceptual LASER SPF manufacturing

cell
 References
 ASME handbook , Vol. 14 B, Super plastic Forming
Process


 E Paul, Black J.T., Materials and Processes in

manufacturing, (9th ed.) Wiley


 W.F. Powers, Automotive Materials in the 21st

Century, Adv. Mater. Proc., 2001, p 38


 Thank You
