Hot Forming Process Analysis of Ti6Al-4V Alloy: Experiment, Behaviour Modelling and Finite Element Simulation

International audienceThe present investigation aims at evaluating and understanding the thermo-mechanical behaviour of a titanium alloy under hot forming conditions. In this work, several considerations are addressed. First, Scanning Electron Microscopy observations are performed to assess the evolutions of (α − β) phases, grain size, defects regarding the thermo-mechanical loadings from different static and dynamic tests (various temperatures and strain rates). Hence, the relationships between mechanical properties and micro-structure evolutions in such conditions allow a first assessment of the deformation mechanisms in link with the macroscopic stress-strain curves. Afterwards, a behaviour model formulation associated to an identification procedure of the parameters of the constitutive equations is proposed. Finally, several tests performed under hot forming conditions and conducted on an industrial press are compared to Finite Element calculations. Results are compared and provide some interesting improvement ways in order to investigate the influence of the process parameters on the final shape of the part