Virtual hot Forming and Mechanical design of beta Titanium alloys: towards a sustainable process

Descripción del proyecto

Modelos numéricos respaldan avances sostenibles en los procesos de moldeo de titanio

Las aleaciones de titanio beta son muy valiosas en aplicaciones biomédicas y aeroespaciales por sus excelentes propiedades mecánicas, su escaso peso y su idoneidad para los implantes. Dada su creciente utilización, resulta fundamental encontrar métodos de modelo más sostenibles. Se ha demostrado que factores como la temperatura de moldeo y la composición química del estabilizador beta influyen en la respuesta de deformación del material y, por lo tanto, afectan a los procesos de moldeo. Con el apoyo de las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el equipo del proyecto ViFoMeTi está desarrollando un modelo integrado innovador capaz de predecir el comportamiento termomecánico de tales aleaciones, teniendo en cuenta la temperatura y la composición química para mejorar la precisión. El modelo se validará tanto para el moldeo a temperatura ambiente como con temperatura elevada.

Objetivo

The experienced researcher Bernardete Coelho, doctor in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aveiro (Portugal), aims at leading research activities on the numerical modelling of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of β-metastable titanium alloys. Such activities will be carried out in Université Bretagne Sud (France) under the supervision of Prof. Sandrine Thuillier.
Advanced materials such as titanium alloys are considered as technological key enablers in societal challenges and a key factor in technological solutions, as they determine the process, the mechanical properties and the service life of an object. Regarding β-titanium alloys, they are more and more used in the biomedical and aeronautic fields and the modelling of their thermo-mechanical behaviour will become an enabling technology in order to perform forming at warm and elevated temperatures. Given the huge interest in the thermo-mechanical behaviour of lightweight β-titanium alloys, one objective of this project consists in its investigation and numerical modelling over a large range of temperatures. It is also intended to include the modelling of the occurrence of plastic instabilities in β-titanium alloys, for a biphasic material, i.e. titanium molybdenum with several compositions as well as an industrial material. Moreover, the technological part of this project aims to validate the thermo-mechanical models to the case of hot forming of a β-titanium alloy. Then, the final objective of this project is to perform a fast eco-audit, using eco-indicators, for different scenarios including hot forming and heat treatment for β-titanium alloys. Additionally, a business plan for a promising application will be developed. As a global overview, this project deals with the virtual forming and mechanical design of parts made out of β-titanium alloys for a large range of compositions, based on the modelling of the thermo-mechanical properties (up to rupture) of such alloys in a large range of temperatures.