A novel hot deep-drawing process has now been developed at the AIT’s LKR Light Metal Competence Centre in Ranshofen, demonstrating that α-β titanium sheets exhibit excellent deep-drawing properties at temperatures below 500 °C. This is a decisive advantage in practice: at these temperatures, conventional hot-work steels can be used as forming tools – instead of the expensive nickel-based alloys that would otherwise be required for significantly higher process temperatures.

As isothermal forming at 500 °C or below is not successful, the process relies on preheating the sheet (below the SPF temperature) and subsequent forming in the press. The key advantage over established processes lies in the dramatically reduced forming times, which enable significantly faster cycle times and thus substantially higher productivity.

The performance of this process has been demonstrated by concrete forming results: as early as 2022, a test component with a depth of 44 mm was successfully formed. Through further optimisations, a drawing depth of 68.5 mm was achieved. At the same time, preheating time, preheating temperature and deep-drawing temperature were further reduced. Tests with Ti-6Al-4V sheets of varying surface finishes – supplied by the industrial partner voestalpine BÖHLER Bleche GmbH & Co KG – demonstrated excellent reproducibility. It is particularly relevant that the process also works with rougher surfaces, thereby reducing the need for grinding.

The component properties also underscore the technological leap: an elongation at break of over 10 % was achieved without additional heat treatment following the deep-drawing process. Furthermore, the results suggest that multi-stage forming processes will be possible in future without intermediate heat treatment – initial two-stage trials have already been successful. Another advantage: no brittle α-case layer is visible on the component surface. This is attributed to the comparatively short exposure to high temperatures.

An Austrian patent has already been granted for the process, and an international patent application is pending. This also provides strategic protection for the innovation – serving as a foundation for further establishing titanium forming at moderate temperatures in a resource-efficient manner for industrial applications.