Theoretical Investigation of Forming Process of Aluminum Alloy Rail Vehicle Side Window

Materials (Basel). 2022 Nov 22;15(23):8290. doi: 10.3390/ma15238290.

Abstract

With the vigorous development of rail transit trains around the world and the emergence of global environmental pollution and energy shortages, the world has an urgent need for manufacturing technology for lightweight aluminum alloy rail transit train components. This paper mainly studied the superplastic forming law of 5083Al for rail transit. Through the high-temperature tensile test and blowing forming experiments, the superplastic properties of 5083Al were determined. Based on this, the die design, finite element simulation, and forming experiment of the rail vehicle side window were carried out. In order to study the superplastic deformation behavior of industrial 5083Al under complex stress conditions, the influence of the depth, area ratio, and friction coefficient of the pre-forming die on the part thickness distribution is simulated. The side window is made of a high-strength 5083Al sheet in the form of bending at both ends to ensure the strength of the connection between the overall side window and the side wall skeleton. The variation law of the side wall forming height of 5083Al box-shaped parts was studied. The efficient manufacture of parts that meet quality standards was made possible by the optimization of the pressure profile. The microstructure changes of the material after superplastic forming were studied by Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) and Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD).

Keywords: 5083Al; RSM; rail vehicle side window; superplastic forming.

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51101072) and Technology Development Program of Jilin Province (No. 20210201038GX).