Numerical simulation of superplastic forming and diffusion bonding of Ti alloys

The research on numerical simulation for combinative process of SPF/DB is carried out in this paper. The contacting problem of sheets is analyzed by using the penalty method. In order to solve the contact problem of different parts of the sheet, a new algorithm for contacting judgment is proposed. According to the relation of the distance vector and the vector of contacting element area, and the condition of contact, it can be judged whether or not a node on the slave surface and the corresponding master surface are in the state of SPF/DB. The Mindlin shell element is employed to simulate SPF/DB process of an asymmetry double-cell cup of Ti-6Al-4V to examine the efficiency of the new algorithm using ARVIP-3D. The results of the numerical simulation are in good agreement with experimental results.