Produce a large aluminium alloy sheet metal using electromagnetic-incremental forming (EM-IF) method

摘要

The conventional electromagnetic forming processing can’t shape large parts due to limitationof the strength of working coil and the capacity of capacitor bank. In this paper, a noveltechnology named electromagnetic-incremental forming (EMIF) has been proposed. A smallworking coil moves along the special motion trail and many small electromagnetic pulsesenergy are used to form a larger aluminum alloy sheet. The effect of vent holes, dischargevoltage on sheet final profiles are analyzed. In addition, two discharge times with varyingvalue of discharge voltage is used to obtain better final sheet profiles. The effect of theprevious discharge on the second one is also analyzed. Then, a 3D sequential couplingmethod is used to calculate the magnetic force on the sheet and analyze the forming process.In the latter deformation, the deformation information is also considered from the former one,such as the deflection, velocity, stress, strain, et al. The simulation values are in betteragreement with the experimental ones. This work demonstrates that the new technologyoffers an ability to form large and complex components with a small working coil and smalldischarging energy of the electromagnetic machine. Moreover, the simulation method can beused for more complex forming system.