L. J. Ruiz-Aparicio, ATI Allegheny Ludlum, Natrona Heights, PA; B. Swale, Aeromet International PLC, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
Following its recent qualification in the Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization (MMPDS) Handbook, extensive testing of ATI 425® Alloy sheet has been conducted to evaluate its hot temperature formability. Commercial production of a variety of aerospace parts has shown that this cold rollable (alpha+beta) Ti alloy can be super plastically formed at significant lower temperatures than those employed for other incumbent Ti alloys. These results indicate that ATI 425® Alloy has similar SPF mechanical properties and gauge thinning behavior to pack-rolled Ti-6Al-4V alloy sheets. A discussion of potential savings to aerospace OEM’s and fabricators will be presented when this lower temperature behavior offered by ATI 425® sheet is combined with some of its additional product attributes, such as tight gauge tolerance and surface finish.