Fabrication of Hollow Cylinder Tank Using Superplastic Forming Technology

The possibility of manufacturing titanium hollow cylinder tank for ramjet engine was demonstrated with superplastic forming of subscale article. An innovative manufacturing method to produce complex configuration from titanium multi-sheets by low hydrostatic pressure was presented. Finite element analysis on superplastic blow forming process has been carried out in order to improve the forming process when manufacturing subscale hollow cylinder structure using Ti-6Al-4V multi-sheets. The simulation focused on the reduction of forming time and obtaining finally required shape throughout investigating the deformation mode of sheet according to the forming conditions and die geometry. From pre-sized titanium sheets, near net shape of hollow cylinder tank is obtained by superplastic blow forming conducted using gas pressure of 15bar at 1148K. The result shows that the manufacturing method with superplastic forming of multi-sheets of titanium alloy has been successful for near net shape forming of subscale hollow cylinder tank of ramjet engine.