Single Point Incremental Forming of an Aged AL-Cu-Mg Alloy: Influence of Pre-heat Treatment and Warm Forming

This research is aimed at enhancing the poor room temperature formability of heat-treatable aluminum alloy AA2024-T3, without deterioration of its post-forming properties. For this purpose, the influences of different heat-treatment conditions as well as warm forming on the single point incremental forming formability and post-forming properties of this material were investigated. Thermal pre-treatments were consisting of annealing (O-temper), solution treating and quenching (W-temper), and solution heat treating, quenching, and then cold working (T-temper). The formability results as well as forming forces of pre-heat-treated sheets were compared to those of the warm forming process results carried out using a laser-assisted single point incremental forming (LASPIF) setup. The post-forming properties of SPIF-formed parts were analyzed by hardness testing. The maximum forming angles of the blank formed under O-temper and W-temper conditions showed, respectively, 41 and 32% increases compared to the one under T-temper condition. LASPIF forming of this material at a temperature of about 360 °C resulted in 41% improvement in the maximum forming angle with respect to parts formed at room temperature from the T-temper sheet. The hardness of the material reduced significantly after annealing, while SPIF parts formed from W-temper blanks and under LASPIF condition regained their hardness after natural aging. The fracture surface characteristics of the failed parts showed that voids nucleate at the interface between intermetallic particles and matrix, and a dimple rupture fracture mode was identified under all heat-treatment conditions. Under O-temper condition, due to precipitation of particles along the grain boundary, an intergranular dimple rupture was observed. Finally, Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) were used to investigate the possible effects of the heat treatment and the deformation on the changes in the composition of intermetallic and second-phase particles, grain size, and texture.