The effect of pressurization path on high pressure gas forming of Ti-3Al-2.5V at elevated temperature

Abstract

High pressure gas forming is a tubular component forming technology with pressurized gas at elevated temperature, based on QPF, HMGF and Hydroforming. This process can be used to form tube blank at lower temperatures with high energy efficiency and also at higher strain rates. With Ti-3Al-2.5V Ti-alloy tube, the potential of HPGF was studied further through experiments at the elevated temperatures of 650 ∘C and 700 ∘C. In order to know the formability of the Ti-alloy tube, tensile tests were also carried out. The results show that: at the temperatures of 650 ∘C and 700 ∘C, the flow curves exhibit the power-law constitutive relation until peak stress is reached and the deformability is suitable for the HPGF process of Ti-3Al-2.5V alloy tube. The effects of pressurization path on the corner filling process and thickness profile are obvious. The high pressure inflow process can result in temperature difference between the straight wall area and corner area, which makes the thickness profile special. Besides, with the stepped pressurization path, the more constant filling rate and better thickness profile can be obtained.