Experimental Investigations on the Effects of Rotational Speed on Temperature and Microstructure Variations in Incremental Forming of T6- Tempered and Annealed AA2219 Aerospace Alloy

Abstract

This research work primarily focused on investigating the effects of changing rotational speed on the forming temperature and microstructure during incremental sheet metal forming (ISF) of AA-2219-O and AA-2219-T6 sheets. Tool rotational speed was varied in the defined range (50–3000 rpm). The tool feed rate of 3000 mm/min and step size of 0.3 mm with spiral tool path were kept fixed in the tests. The sheets were formed into pyramid shapes of 45° draw angle, with the hemispherical end forming tool of 12 mm diameter. While the sheets were forming, the temperature variation due to friction at the sheet–tool contact zone was recorded, using a non-contact laser projected infrared temperature sensor. It was observed that the temperature rising rate for the T6 sheet during ISF is higher as compared to the annealed sheet, thereby showing that the T6 tempered sheet offers higher friction than the annealed sheet. Due to this reason, the T6 tempered sheet fails to achieve the defined forming depth of 25 mm when the rotational speed exceeds 2000 rpm. The effects of rotational speed and associated rise in the temperature were examined on the microstructure, using the scanning electron microscopic (SEM). The results reveal that the density of second phase particles reduces with increasing speed reasoning to corresponding temperature rise. However, the particle size in both tempers of AA2219 received a slight change and showed a trivial response to an increase in the rotational speed.