Superplastic Forming Characteristics of a Fine-Grained Cu-Based Shape Memory Alloy

Abstract

The influences of temperature and pressure on the blow forming of CuZnAlZr sheet was investigated under free bulging conditions using argon gas. The effects evaluated were the dome height, measured at the dome apex; the specific thickness, the ratio of the actual thickness to the initial thickness; and the thinning factor, the ratio of the actual thickness to the average thickness. The results show that the dome height and the rate of change of dome height with respect to time, dh/dt, increase with increasing temperature and/or pressure. The specific thickness decreases with increasing fractional height (the ratio of the height of a given point above the base line to the height of the apex), and the specific thickness at the apex decreases with increasing temperature and/or pressure as well. The thinning factor decreases with increasing fractional height. Furthermore, this decrease becomes more significant with an increase in either the forming temperature or pressure. The thinning factor at the apex, as a function of the height to base ratio for all conditions falls into the region between m=0.3 and m=0.75 curves.