Experimental and Numerical Simulation Investigation on Deep Drawing Process of Inconel 718 with and without Intermediate Annealing Thermal Treatments

Abstract

The aeronautical industry is moving from high-capacity large-airplane construction to low-capacity small-airplane construction. With the change in the production volume, there is a need for more efficient manufacturing processes, such as stamping/deep drawing. However, the streamlined shape and exotic materials of airplanes pose a challenge to accurate numerical simulation of the manufacturing processes. In the case of the Inconel 718 material, researchers previously proposed numerical models; however, these models failed to take account of some key parameters, such as the degradation of the elastic modulus and intermediate annealing thermal processes. The aim of the present study was to characterize the Inconel 718 material, with and without intermediate annealing thermal treatment (TT) and to propose a suitable model. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed model, a U-drawing benchmark test was used.