Reinforced Ceramic Dies for Superplastic Forming Operations

Ceramic dies have been developed to meet the need for a dimensionally stable tool, which can withstand the temperatures (425 to 950 DGC) and high forming pressures (up to 7 MPa) that are required for superplastic forming (SPF), superplastic forming with diffusion bonding (SPF/DB), and hot sizing of metal parts. With the improvements that have been made to strengthen fused silica based ceramics, the performance of ceramic tools is slowly closing in on meeting the same forming complexity as corrosion-resistant steel (CRES) dies can achieve. Boeing has successfully superplastically formed jet engine wide chord fan blades using ceramic dies, and many production aircraft parts are being built with Boeing's patented ceramic die technology. [Aircraft parts used in this study are made from Ti-64].