Abstract
The overview starts with the background behind the creation of the European Superplasticity Community and its current activities, before moving on to a more detailed description of the UK’s IOM^3^ Superplasticity Committee and its terms of reference.
A short history of the commercial development of the process is included which describes in images some of the key advances and applications of superplastic forming in some of its main markets, particularly with respect to the uses of commercial aluminium and titanium alloys.
This overview then briefly relates the practical phenomenon of superplasticity, particularly with reference to metallic materials, but not exclusively, to the mechanisms by which large plastic elongations are observed. A new focussed ion beam etching technique is being adopted at the University of Oxford to provide physical scientists with new evidence on which to base their models for the mechanisms of superplasticity.
Some potential applications of superplastic forming are then explored in the medical and dental sectors including the use of ceramic die materials for the manufacture of dental and maxillofacial prostheses and some results on the biocompatibility of as‐formed titanium alloys will be presented.
A section on bulk metallic glasses (BMG’s) explains some of the similarities and differences between large deformation in BMG’s and crystalline superplastic materials. Some interesting results with Zr~44~Ti~11~Cu~10~Ni~10~Be~25~ are described.
Two superplasticity standards have been published in the last few years that specify how the superplastic properties of materials should be measured. Before the ISO standard was published extensive changes were recommended by the UK working party, all of which were accepted. Now, the British Standards Institute have made the IOM^3^ Superplasticity Committee a sub panel of ISE/NFE/04/01 – the BSI committee concerned with the uniaxial testing of metals. The new panel advising on superplasticity measurement related to standards has the reference ISE/NFE/04/01/04 i.e. ‘panel 4.’
Finally, the future of superplastic forming will be explored following a potentially significant development using laser technology