Software for calculating technological and geometric characteristics of the superplastic forming process

Abstract

Modern metalworking technologies based on the application of the superplasticity process allow manufacturing parts of complex shape and high reliability. The use of the superplastic forming method can cause certain problems, such as uneven thickness of parts or deviations from the specified shape, requiring careful evaluation of the geometric parameters of the resulting products. These problems affect the quality of the manufactured spherical shells. To simplify the process of evaluating the characteristics of products, the creation of an automated system becomes necessary. The article shows computer modeling of the process of superplastic forming of a sheet blank made of titanium alloy VT6 into a cylindrical matrix at different pressures to evaluate the sphericity and thickness of the dome. Computer modeling using the ANSYS software package accelerates the process of creating spherical shells, while the finite element modeling method ensures the accuracy of calculations. Mathematical modeling was carried out to calculate the geometric parameters, dependencies of time characteristics and characteristics of the stress-strain state. This work is devoted to the automation of the process of processing the results of finite element modeling in ANSYS. The developed software tool "Dome Geometry Assessment" helps to process report files obtained in ANSYS and analyze the results, allows for additional calculations and provides the ability to build graphical dependencies for more detailed analysis, as well as minimize the human factor in calculations and significantly reduce the time for performing the necessary operations.