A Finite Element investigation of thickness reduction in superplastic forming of AZ۴۱ Magnesium Alloy

Super plastic Forming (SPF) is a close net-shape manufacturing process that provides various benefits over conventional forming processes. Low stress flow is one of the main characteristics of this process which results in lower forming pressure. At the same time creating complex geometries out of hard metals, is achievable in this process due to low yield stress of metal because of the high temperature of the process. In this paper a finite element analysis for modeling superplastic forming of AZ۴۱ Magnesium Alloy is presented. An axisymmetric FE model is created using ABAQUS explicit code, in order to simulate the superplastic forming process of a sheet into a complex shape embedding the creep behavior of the material. Mesh size optimization procedure is carried out. Model verification through comparison with well-established experimental results is presented as well. In conclusion, the thickness variation analysis of the final product is presented

Keywords:

Superplastic forming , Finite element analysis , stress flow