Application Progress Of Titanium Alloy Precision Hot Forming Technology in Aerospace
With the development of aerospace technology, the application scope of titanium alloys in the aerospace field continues to expand, and titanium alloy structural parts are increasingly showing the trend of large size, thin-walled surface, variable thickness and overall structure, which further improves the aerospace industry. The performance of the aircraft, the rigidity of the structure, the weight reduction, and the precision forming technology of titanium alloys will be the research focus of aerospace manufacturing technology.
Precision forming refers to the forming technology that closes or meets the accuracy requirements of the parts after forming. It is based on the technical achievements of new materials, new equipment, new processes, computer-aided process design, etc. High-efficiency, high-performance, low-cost manufacturing technology with few and no margins, precision-formed parts have high geometric accuracy and surface roughness, precise shape and excellent mechanical properties. Titanium alloy precision forming technology is widely used in the aerospace field, and its use can significantly improve the comprehensive performance and support capabilities of various types of combat aircraft, aero-engines, strategic and tactical missiles, launch vehicles and other aerospace products. Analysis of the application progress of precision hot forming (including precision casting, ultra-fast forming/diffusion joining, precision spinning and laser direct rapid prototyping) in precision forming technology, which can achieve near-net shape production and material utilization up to 70% ~90%, has shown broad development prospects and good application value in the aerospace field.
my country's titanium precision casting technology started in the 1960s and was developed by borrowing and introducing foreign technologies. After years of development, titanium alloy investment casting technology, tamping casting technology, graphite processing casting technology, etc. have been developed. Titanium alloy investment casting technology combined with centrifugal casting technology has realized the casting of thin-walled complex titanium alloy structural parts with a size of 900mm and an overall wall thickness of 2.5mm. 0.3mm. For small and medium-sized castings, the dimensional accuracy can reach CT6~CT7 level, the surface roughness can reach Ra3.2mm, and the minimum wall thickness is 1.5μm, reaching the international advanced level. Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials has successfully cast a complex frame structure with a size of 630mm × 300mm × 130mm and a minimum wall thickness of only 2.5mm.
With the upgrading of aerospace equipment, higher requirements have been placed on the large-scale, complex and high-precision components. Titanium alloy precision casting technology combined with advanced melting technology, computer simulation technology, hot isostatic pressing technology, digital detection technology, etc. The main development direction in the future. At present, compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, my country has a certain gap in technical foundation, equipment, process control, integration of forming and modification, process simulation and digital detection. The need for the development of advanced aerospace equipment is the focus of future work.
To sum up, while the precision hot forming technology of titanium alloys has made continuous progress, it has also encountered some technical difficulties. The engineering application scope of large-scale integral titanium alloy components is still relatively small, but with the rapid development of the aerospace industry, titanium alloys Precision hot forming technology is bound to enter a new development period. In view of the outstanding advantages of titanium alloy and precision hot forming technology, the combination of the two will play a more significant role in the future aerospace industry. Its main development directions in the future are: (1) Overall precision forming, low cost, and engineering application of large or super-large complex (thin-walled) structural parts; (2) Combination of computer simulation (simulation) technology, CAD/CAM technology, numerical control technology, etc. with precision forming technology , to provide a technical approach for the forming of new aerospace components.
