Experimental Investigation and Analysis on Electromagnetic Compression Forming Processed Aluminum Alloy Tubes

Abstract

The electromagnetic forming process is high-velocity manufacturing techniques that use electromagnetic forces to shape tube and sheet metal parts. Aluminum alloys are widely used in engineering structures and components where light- weight and corrosion resistance are required. Electromagnetic forming process are successfully employed for the materials that are difficult to form by conventional methods because of spring back, as this process achieves large amount of plastic deformation without spring back. In addition, electromagnetic forming improves mechanical properties of the materials, especially, its hardness, and also increases the rate of production. In this paper, the experimental investigation and analysis on electromagnetic compression forming of aluminum alloy AA6101 tubes is presented. Aluminum alloy tubes of outer diameter 40 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm with a nominal tensile strength of 214 MPa were electromagnetically compressed using a 4 turn helical actuator that discharges energies up to 20 kJ. It is found that a maximum of 15.85% reduction in outer diameter could be achieved during electromagnetic forming at 18 kJ with an approximate discharge current of 160 kA. The post- forming hardness, micro structure and deformed grain size were also studied. The experimental results were correlated with mathematical analysis using MATLAB and also with simulation using ANSYS. The comparison of analytical results with experiment and simulation showed good.