Experimental Verification of the Superplastic Sheet Metal Forming Analysis by the Finite Element Method

Abstract

The numerical result for superplastic sheet forming simulation is compared with the experimental result to verify the validity of the finite element code developed. The code calculates the optimum pressure cycle, the deformed shapes, the distributions of the strain and strain rate in the blow forming processes. The calculation deals with the maximization of the strain rate sensitivity, the protection of the localized deformation, the consistency of the desired strain rate, and the control of the hourglass mode and locking phenomenon. The comparison demonstrates the validity of the present algorithm, especially the optimum pressure cycle, with the slight difference between the two results.