INCREMENTAL FLOW PROCEDURES FOR THE FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THIN SHEET SUPERPLASTIC FORMING PROCESSES

Superplastic forming is a manufacturing process employed in the aerospace industry to produce complex components. An incremental formulation in which the flow type of superplastic constitutive equations is approximated over a finite time interval is used to simulate the superplastic forming of thin sheet components. Within this incremental framework, the numerical prediction of correct pressure cycles to achieve adequate formability is addressed also. Several examples relating to the superplastic forming of thin sheet components are presented to assess the performance of the method.