Determination of the duration of heating and cooling of titanium alloy billets for swaging

An attempt was made to establish a connection between the duration of heat and the decrease in metal temperature during deformation to determine the beginning and duration of heating titanium alloy billets for hot stamping. The investigations were made on the VT3-1 alloy billets with chromel-alumel thermocouples inside. The results of measurements of billet surface and center temperatures during the heating in a resistance surface up to 960-1050deg C and during the cooling in the air. It is shown that heating and cooling increase with the billet cross-section. The heating duration up to 1050deg C for all cross-sections is 4 or 5 min less than up to 960deg C. The cooling duration from 960 and 1050deg C to 200deg C depends weakly on the heating temperature and varies for various cross-sections within the limits of 1-2 min. It is proposed to determine roughly the metal temperature on complection of stamping through the time elapsed after the heated billet has left the furnace