Effect of temperature on the deep drawing forming performance of Ti/Al laminates: experimental investigation and finite element analysis

Abstract

In this study, Ti/Al laminates are deep-drawn at elevated temperatures to investigate the effect of temperature on forming performance using numerical and experimental methods. Equipment for warm deep drawing process in a vacuum atmosphere is developed. The corresponding deep drawing finite element model (FE model) is established and validated by thickness distribution along the drawn cups’ radial direction. Based on the developed FE model, the thickness strain in different temperature is compared. Following this, the process window is established to determine the optimum temperature. The ratio curve of plastic deformation to sliding (D/S curve) during warm deep drawing is established to characterize the sustainable formability of Ti/Al laminates. The results indicated that the maximum limit drawing ratio in 200°C is consistent with the minimum thickness reduction. The safe forming area narrows with the increase of the drawing ratio. The D/S curve is short and presented fluctuations in the middle-temperature section of 150–250°C, as revealed well sustainable formability. Furthermore, the thickness of constituent layers for Ti/Al laminates is measured from micromorphology diagrams and compared. It is observed that the thickness strain of outside layers has more possibility to decline in bottom radius and is higher in flange radius than inner layers.