Produce a large aluminium alloy sheet metal using electromagnetic-incremental (EM-IF) forming method: Experiment and Numerical simulation*

The conventional electromagnetic forming processing can’t shape large parts due to limitation of the strength of working coil and the capacity of capacitor bank. In this paper, a novel technology named electromagnetic-incremental forming (EMIF) has been proposed. A small working coil moves along the special motion trail and many small electromagnetic pulses energy are used to form a larger aluminum alloy sheet. The effect of vent holes, discharge voltage on sheet final profiles are analyzed. In addition, two discharge times with varying value of discharge voltage is used to obtain better final sheet profiles. The effect of the previous discharge on the second one is also analyzed. Then, a 3D sequential coupling method 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 better agreement with the experimental ones. This work demonstrates that the new technology offers an ability to form large and complex components with a small working coil and small discharging energy of the electromagnetic machine. Moreover, the simulation method can be used for more complex forming system.