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In this work, the application of the split sleeve cold expansion process on different aerospace aluminum alloys was investigated. The study was undertaken for a number of aluminum-lithium alloys in order to provide a recommendation for material / process optimization. The results showed that, in general, these materials can undergo this process without cracking in severe but realistic conditions. In addition, in order to apply the process for the most difficult cases, the performance of a new sleeve design was investigated on a 7085-T7651 aerospace aluminum alloy plate. Although the new design was not optimized, experimental evidence showed that it can significantly reduce cracking near a sleeve split.

This work describes a sheet forming process simulation, cup drawing and redrawing, using a new plane stress anisotropic yield function that describes the anisotropic behavior of aluminum alloy sheets well. The anisotropy of the function was introduced in the formulation using only linear transformations on the Cauchy stress tensor or deviator. The implementation of this constitutive equation in finite element codes was briefly explained. Simulation results were presented and compared with experimental data.