Unequal-thickness billet optimization in transitional region during isothermal local loading forming of Ti-alloy rib-web component using response surface method

Avoiding the folding defect and improving the die filling capability in the transitional region are desired in isothermal local loading forming of a large-scale Ti-alloy rib-web component（LTRC）. To achieve a high-precision LTRC, the folding evolution and die filling process in the transitional region were investigated by 3 D finite element simulation and experiment using an equal-thickness billet（ETB）. It is found that the initial volume distribution in the second-loading region can greatly affect the amount of material transferred into the first-loading region during the second-loading step, and thus lead to the folding defect. Besides, an improper initial volume distribution results in non-concurrent die filling in the cavities of ribs after the second-loading step, and then causes die underfilling. To this end, an unequal-thickness billet（UTB） was employed with the initial volume distribution optimized by the response surface method（RSM）. For a certain eigenstructure, the critical value of the percentage of transferred material determined by the ETB was taken as a constraint condition for avoiding the folding defect in the UTB optimization process,and the die underfilling rate was considered as the optimization objective. Then, based on the RSM models of the percentage of transferred material and the die underfilling rate, non-folding parameter combinations and optimum die filling were achieved. Lastly, an optimized UTB was obtained and verified by the simulation and experiment.

Robust optimization of the billet for isothermal local loading transitional region of a Ti-alloy rib-web component based on dual-response surface method

Billet optimization can greatly improve the forming quality of the transitional region in the isothermal local loading forming （ILLF） of large-scale Ti-alloy ribweb components. However, the final quality of the transitional region may be deteriorated by uncontrollable factors, such as the manufacturing tolerance of the preforming billet, fluctuation of the stroke length, and friction factor. Thus, a dual-response surface method （RSM）-based robust optimization of the billet was proposed to address the uncontrollable factors in transi- tional region of the ILLF. Given that the die underfilling and folding defect are two key factors that influence the forming quality of the transitional region, minimizing the mean and standard deviation of the die underfilling rate and avoiding folding defect were defined as the objective function and constraint condition in robust optimization. Then, the cross array design was constructed, a dual-RSM model was established for the mean and standard deviation of the die underfilling rate by considering the size parameters of the billet and uncontrollable factors. Subsequently, an optimum solution was derived to achieve the robust optimization of the billet. A case study on robust optimization was conducted. Good results were attained for improving the die filling and avoiding folding defect, suggesting that the robust optimization of the billet in the transitional region of the ILLF was efficient and reliable.