Superplastic Forming Analysis Techniques

Abstract

Superplastic Forming (SPF), despite being a specified set of process of manufacturing engineering that has been extensively employed in the automotive and, more importantly, in the aerospace industry during the last four decades, is still a very active field of research. Within the different kind of tests that have been used to study the SPF, biaxial tests and, more specifically, free bulge forming (FBF) tests have become a predominant method to deepen into the knowledge of the process. In order to support the research done by experimental tests, most authors have historically employed different analysis techniques, such as the mathematical description of the process, the use of Finite Element Methods or more recently, Dimensional Analysis. This chapter collects the different methods that can be applied to analyse SPF processes, using free bulge tests as a laboratory-scale model around which these methods are formulated.