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Formability and microstructure of TC4 titanium alloy hollow shafts formed by cross-wedge rolling with a mandrel

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Abstract

The formability and microstructure of TC4 titanium alloy hollow shafts formed by cross-wedge rolling (CWR) are being investigated to ensure that products manufactured for utilisation in the aviation sector are lightweight. The flow behaviour of the TC4 alloy was studied via isothermal hot compression tests. The constitutive equations in different phase regions were then established and applied to a finite element (FE) model to study the effect of process parameters on the ellipticity of the TC4 alloy hollow shafts formed by CWR. Corresponding CWR experiments were conducted to validate the FE model; further, the microstructure of the TC4 alloy hollow shafts was investigated. The results demonstrate that forming angle, stretching angle and area reduction considerably affect the ellipticity of the TC4 alloy hollow shafts by varying the contact area between a die and a workpiece. The ellipticity evidently increases as the relative wall thickness decreases, as the flattening deformation increases. An increase in the deformation temperature will result in a decrease in the deformation resistance of the TC4 alloy and an increase in the ellipticity. Moreover, the effect of the deformation temperature, area reduction and wall thickness of the workpiece on the microstructure of the TC4 alloy hollow shafts formed by CWR was investigated. The degree of kink or globularisation of the strip alpha phase increases with the above parameters. The volume fraction of the beta phase increases with the deformation temperature. The microstructure is typically equiaxed when the deformation temperature is 950 °C.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20173674003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51875036), and the Engineering Research Center of Part Near-Net-Shape forming of Ministry of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Pengni Feng, Cuiping Yang, Baoyu Wang, Junling Li, Jinxia Shen & Xiaoming Yang

  2. Beijing Laboratory of Metallic Materials and Processing for Modern Transportation, Beijing, 100083, China

    Cuiping Yang & Baoyu Wang

Authors
  1. Pengni Feng
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  2. Cuiping Yang
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  3. Baoyu Wang
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  4. Junling Li
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  5. Jinxia Shen
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  6. Xiaoming Yang
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Contributions

Pengni Feng: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, data curation, writing–original draft, reviewing and editing.

Cuiping Yang: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, resources, funding acquisition, reviewing and editing.

Baoyu Wang: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition, reviewing and editing.

Junling Li: supervision, methodology, reviewing and editing.

Jinxia Shen: supervision, methodology, reviewing and editing.

Xiaoming Yang: supervision, reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Baoyu Wang.

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Feng, P., Yang, C., Wang, B. et al. Formability and microstructure of TC4 titanium alloy hollow shafts formed by cross-wedge rolling with a mandrel. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 114, 365–377 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-06635-0

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