A Study on Electro-Assisted Forming of Thin-Walled Skin Components Made of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

To address the challenges of procedural complexity, the lack of an integrated heating-forming capability, and poor formability in the hot forming of titanium alloy skin components, an electrically assisted forming (EAF) process is proposed. A Johnson-Cook constitutive model was established to characterize the flow behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy under electric-assisted conditions, achieving a correlation coefficient of 0.968 and an average relative error of 7.67%. Forming parameters were investigated through a combined approach of numerical simulation and experimentation. At a current density of 7.59 A/mm², a forming speed of 1 mm/min, and a friction coefficient of 0.1, the maximum springback of the component was 1.04 mm. Compared with isothermal forming, the EAF process reduced the springback by 7.14% and enhanced the ultimate tensile strength by 5.34%. Microstructural characterization revealed that, under pulsed current, the α-phase grains of the material were refined, whereas the β-phase fraction and the average grain size increased, accompanied by a 15.3% reduction in the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density. This study validates the process feasibility of electrically assisted forming for thin-walled titanium alloy skin components.