Thermo-mechanical sheet metal forming of aero engine components in Ti-6Al-4V – PART 1: Material characterisation

Ti-6Al-4V is one of the most frequently used titanium alloy in aerospace applications such as for load carrying engine structures, due to their high strength to weight ratio in combination with favourable creep resistance at moderate operating temperatures. In the virtual development process of designing suitable thermo-mechanical forming processes for titanium sheet metal components in aero engine applications numerical finite element (FE) simulations are desirable to perform. The benefit is related to the ability of securing forming concepts with respect to shape deviation, thinning and strain localisation. The reliability of the numerical simulations depends on both models and methods used as well as on the accuracy and applicability of the material input data. The material model and related property data need to be consistent with the conditions of the material in the studied thermo-mechanical forming process. In the present work a set of material tests are performed on Ti-6Al-4V at temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 560°C. The purpose is to study the mechanical properties of the specific batch of alloy but foremost to identify necessary material model requirements and generate experimental reference data for model calibration in order to perform FE-analyses of sheet metal forming at elevated temperatures in Ti-6Al-4V.