Significant springback occurs after tube rotary-draw-bending （RDB）, especially for a high-strength Ti-3A1-2.5V tube （HSTT） due to its high ratio of yield strength to Young＇s modulus. The combination scheme of explicit and implicit is preferred to predict the springback. This simulation strategy includes several numerical parameters, such as element type, number of elements through thickness （NEL）, element size, etc. However, the influences of these parameters on spring- back prediction accuracy are not fully understood. Thus, taking the geometrical specification 9.525 mm × 0.508 mm ofa HSTT as the objective, the effects of numerical parameters on prediction accuracy and computation efficiency of springback simulation of HSTT RDB are investigated. The simulated springback results are compared with experimental ones. The main results are： （1） solid and continuum-shell elements predict the experimental results well; （2） for C3DSR elements, NEL of at least 3 is required to obtain reliable results and a relative error of 29% can occur as NEL is varied in the range of 1-3; （3） specifying damping factor typically works well in Abaqus/Emplicit simulation of springback and the springback results are sensitive to the magnitude of damping factor. In addition, the explanations of the effect rules are given and a guideline is added.
The tribological conditions between tools and sheet are the major factors affecting the product quality,forming limits and service life of tools in thin-walled titanium components warm forming.Using the orthogonal design based twist compression test in the temperature range of 25-300 °C,the significant factors affecting the coefficient of friction（Co F） and the influencing rules in CP-3 titanium sheet warm forming are clarified and discussed by changing tribological conditions such as tool material,lubrication,temperature and normal pressure.The results show that the significant factors affecting the Co F are lubrication,surface roughness,tool material,sliding velocity,normal pressure and temperature;compared with unlubricated condition,the graphite and Mo S2 greatly improve the friction condition and the maximum reduction of the Co F is 0.318;the Co Fs of Cr12 Mo V/CP-3 and QAl10-3-1.5/CP-3 tribo-pairs show a similar tendency：the Co Fs increase with increasing surface roughness and sliding velocity,and increase firstly then decrease with increasing normal pressure and temperature.
Friction is a critical issue in plastic forming which influences forming force, metal flow, forming quality and service life of die. Since friction is a highly nonlinear physical phenomenon which is interactively affected by so many factors, great efforts have been made to study the friction mechanism and controlling. The research progress of friction issues in plastic forming was summarized and discussed from four aspects： testing, characterizing, modeling and optimization/controlling. Considering urgent demands for green, efficient and precise forming of high-performance, lightweight and complex components in high-tech industries such as aerospace and automotive, the trends and challenges of friction study in plastic forming were proposed.
Combining the design of experiments(DOE)and three-dimensional finite element(3D-FE)method,a sequential multiobjectiveoptimization of larger diameter thin-walled(LDTW)Al-alloy tube bending under uncertainties was proposed andimplemented based on the deterministic design results.Via the fractional factorial design,the significant noise factors are obtained,viz,variations of tube properties,fluctuations of tube geometries and friction.Using the virtual Taguchi’s DOE of inner and outerarrays,considering three major defects,the robust optimization of LDTW Al-alloy tube bending is achieved and validated.For thebending tools,the robust design of mandrel diameter was conducted under the fluctuations of tube properties,friction and tubegeometry.For the processing parameters,considering the variations of friction,material properties and manufacture deviation ofmandrel,the robust design of mandrel extension length and boosting ratio is realized.
In order to develop the warming bending technology of the large diameter thin-walled（LDTW） commercial pure titanium alloy CP-Ti tubes, the warm bending mechanism of the extrados and intrados of LDTW CP-Ti tubes was researched. By EBSD analysis and Vickers hardness test, the changes of microstructure and strength of the tubes at different bending temperatures of 293, 423 and 573 K, were analyzed. The results show： 1） The extrados of the bent tube deforms mainly by slip, along with few twinning, and the preferred orientation is similar to that of the initial tube; the intrados of the bent tube experiences compression deformation mainly by {1 012} tensile twinning, and the twinning makes the preferred orientation of wall materials change sharply. 2） The Vickers hardness values of both the extrados and intrados of the samples after bending increase greatly; the Vickers hardness values of the intrados are much higher than those of the extrados, and Vickers hardness values of the RD-TD planes are always higher than those of the RD-LD planes, which are related to the different deformation mechanisms.
How to control the microstructure of titanium alloy bars is important to fabricating high-performance aerial forgings. This paper gives a thorough survey of the manufacturing meth- ods and microstructure control techniques for titanium alloy bars. It summarizes the effects of pro- cessing parameters on the mechanisms and laws of microstructure evolution during βworking and （α ＋ β） working, including the kinetics and grains size of dynamic recrystallization （DRX） during deformation and the kinetics and grains size of spheroidization during （α ＋ β） deformation. The trends in microstructure control techniques are presented for fabricating titanium alloy bars with high efficiency, low cost, and high quality by means of β/（α ＋ β） working, and the puzzles and chal- lenges in the future are also pointed out.
As promising light-weight and high-performance structure components, large-diameter thin-walled （LDTW） Ti 6Al^4V titanium alloy （TC4） bent tubes are needed most urgently in many industries such as aviation and aerospace. Warm bending may be a feasible way for manufacturing these components. Understanding their temperature and strain rate dependent tensile behavior is the foundation for formability improvement and warm bending design. In this paper, uniaxial ten- sile tests were conducted at elevated temperatures ranging from 298 K to 873 K at tensile velocities of 2, 10, 15 mm/min. The main results show that the tensile behavior of LDTW TC4 tubes is dif- ferent from that of TC4 sheets. The typical elongation of TC4 tubes at room temperature is 10% lower than that of TC4 sheets. The flow stress of TC4 tubes decreases greatly by about 50% with the temperature rising to 873 K. At temperatures of 573-673 K, the hardening exponent is at its highest value, which means the deformation mechanism changes from twining to more dislocation movement by slipping. The fracture elongation of TC4 tubes fluctuates with increasing temperature, which is associated with changes in the deformation mechanism and with the blue brittleness. The fractography of TC4 tubes at various temperatures, especially at 673 K, shows that second phases and impurities significantly influence fracture elongation. By considering the characteristics of the tensile behavior and by properly choosing the die material, the warm bending for TC4 tubes can be achieved at temperatures of 723-823 K.
