State of the art of hot stretch-creep compound forming for thin-wall titanium alloy components

Hot stretch-creep process is a novel compound forming approach for thin-wall titanium alloy components. In this process, a thin-wall stock of metal sheet or profile is stretched and bended after heating to the hot forming temperature via the heating methods such as resistance heating. When the finial configuration is formed, the temperature remains and the material creeps along stretch direction based on the mold surface. This leads to the internal stress decrease in the formed workpiece and a stress relaxation on-line. Then the springback of the component is reduced due to the decrease of the residual stress and the forming precision is improved. The research status, process principle, key equipment, processing technology, and the merits/demerits of the new process and technology were introduced. Finally, the applications of hot stretch-creep compound forming technology in future are proposed.