Research on the die fittingness and springback of large diameter thin-walled CT20 titanium alloy tube NC bending

The significant die unfittingness and springback, occuring during the numerically controlled (NC) bending process of large diameter thin-walled CT20 titanium alloy tube, has an obvious influence on the shape and the geometrical precision of the bent tube, furthermore on the assembly precision and the sealing capability. The changing rules of die fittingness and springback of large diameter thin-walled CT20 titanium alloy tube under different bending parameters were investigated and the mechanism was analysed using finite element method (FEM) in this paper. The result shows that the springback of large diameter thin-walled CT20 titanium alloy tube is more significant than that of aluminum alloy and stainless steel tubes with the same specification. The die fittingness has a connection with the tangent compressive stress on the intrados of the tube before springback, the larger the tangent compressive stress, the worse is the die fittingness. The results may provide a significant guide to the control of bending radius and bending angle for large diameter thin-walled titanium alloy tube NC bending.