Simulation of a sheet hydroforming process for Titanium cup shape products and validation

Sheet hydroforming process has been come very common between sheet metal forming methods due to some advantages like better surface quality of products, more drawing ratio, less needing to secondary operation etc. Titanium and Titanium alloys are very applicable not only due to high ratio of strength to weight but also because of ability to tolerate work in elevated temperature. In this paper, sheet hydroforming process has been simulated using finite element method. Different parameters like effect of blank holding force, strain rate or ram speed, temperature, fluid pressue, thickness distribution etc have been analyzed. A sheet hydroforming setup based on simulation studies has been designed and fabricated. Setup has been tested for different metals and alloys especially for Titanium. Setup has ability to measure ram speed, blank holding force, total forming load and all the parameters. A good agreement has been found by comparison between simulation and experimental results. Finally, material characterization for sheet hydroformed products has been presented.