Euro SPF 04

Over the last decades the main achievements in superplastic forming have been, as for many other technological issues, the results of smart collaborations between researchers, designers and manufacturing engineers, with various scientific and technical skills. This complementarity is vital to the success in making high performance products.

Particularly, the processing of new materials exhibiting superplastic properties at lower temperature or higher strain rate; the development of numerical codes able to simulate precisely the whole manufacturing process; and the implementation of low cost process, including optimised dies showing extended life, are all of primary importance in ensuring a greater knowledge and utilisation of the SPF manufacturing process in industry.

Over the last four years, the European community of superplasticity and superplastic forming, both academic and industrial, has concerned itself with the commercial development of processing various engineering products, and has organised a series of dedicated, specialist conferences. Holding such meetings, mainly devoted to the technological and processing aspects of SPF, is essentially driven by the wish to promote exchange between researchers and engineers to stimulate new developments and merging ideas.

Following the two previous conferences in Villard de Lans (France, 2001) and Bristol (UK, 2002), EuroSPF04 is held at Ecole des Mines in Albi (France). An international program committee has been created to structure and perpetuate this conference cycle. As a consequence the international, European and non European, participation has been increased.

Four topics are specifically addressed during the conference:

• superplastic materials
• process simulation
  
• toolings
• SPF technological issues
  

The Editors

Gérard Bernhart, Thierry Cutard and Philippe Lours