Titanium is famous because it comes with a high strength-to-weight ratio and fantastic corrosion resistance. People use it for diverse applications, particularly automotive and aerospace ones. There are lots of options, including titanium grade 5 (6AL4V) sheet. As a result, you can find one for almost any need.
There are actually a wide range of processes for making the sheeting. What we want to do is discuss several of them and their characteristics.
Inspections
We’ll start by talking about the inspection stage. Before the forming takes place, you’ll have to inspect your titanium. This is the case regardless of your preferred forming strategy. An inspection can pinpoint structural defects, and check how thick and uniform the sheet is. You’ll also want to pay attention to the flatness, as well as elements like hardness and strength. Finally, you will need to analyse the bending behaviour.
An in-depth analysis of titanium sheet will show you whether the crucial regions have been influenced. This is by marks or similar scratches from handling. If you find scratches or other surface flaws, you should remove them via grinding.
Guaranteeing good results
Something else you need to do with titanium sheet before forming is clean it. The removal of oxide makes the process smoother. You need to deal with any traces of dirt, oil, or grease. Get rid of any residue or chemicals in particular, because they can negatively influence the forming operation.
Another thing you need to do here is ensure you handle the sheeting carefully. It is good practice to wear clean cotton gloves to ensure no residue will get on the sheet. This ensures you don’t compromise the results after spending time cleaning the material.
You need to pay special attention to sheet grinding and shearing too. It may be necessary to grind to finalise the sheet’s thickness, but it could leave marks. Moreover, shearing must be done with extra care since there are risks of cracks occurring. Give us a call if you need titanium grade 5 (6AL4V) sheet goods.
Forming methods
Cold forming
This is a solution used not only for commercially pure titanium, but most alloys. It’s possible to cold form these sheets utilising the standard process. Saying this, you must be sure that the bend is a bigger radius than with hot forming. Furthermore, the stretch flange has to be shallower. When you use cold forming for alloys, it will result in considerable springback. What’s more, stress relieving is necessary, as is extra power.
The stretch forming of titanium as well as its alloys can happen at low temperatures. Yet, you need to consider that the formability is at its best at lower speeds. To minimise stress corrosion and keep the danger of cracks low, you could resort to both hot sizing and stress relieving.
Hot forming
Another available process is hot forming. Upon heating the sheet, several major changes happen. The formability goes up and the tendency to springback goes down. This permits enhanced modifications. Hot dies are employed for more severe forming. You place the flat titanium sheet in the die and heat it to the necessary temperature. Additionally, you apply slow pressure, with you removing the sheet after a certain amount of time.
For the best results here, particularly with ductility and uniformity, you obtain them when temperatures exceed 540ºC. At the same time though, they present a greater risk of more severe contaminations. Ask us if you want quality titanium grade 5 (6AL4V) sheet.
If you use temperatures exceeding 870ºC, you must perform hot forming in a vacuum. Or, you can do it in a protective atmosphere.
As opposed to cold forming, hot forming has a distinct advantage. It increases the titanium sheet’s uniformity and yield strength. This is as long as the sizing and forming temperature is over 540ºC.
Superplastic forming
Lastly, we have forming where the temperature is so high it makes the titanium achieve superplasticity. It means it can deform far beyond the usual breaking point. It can allow more complex forming.
For this approach, you use a computer system to keep the gas pressure under control. When using tools here, they need to be heat resistant. What’s more, you need longer preheating times, alongside a protective atmosphere.
Speak to us about titanium grade 5 (6AL4V) sheet or other grades
At Brindley Metals, we have plenty of products to offer our clients. Our people have an in-depth knowledge of the materials too. As such, they can tell you all you need to know. Delivery times for orders are also fast.
So, if you need titanium grade 5 (6AL4V) sheet or other types of sheeting, let us know; we’ll give you the specs and can suggest materials for various applications.