Experimental and numerical research on process formability in magnetic pulse forming of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets

Abstract

The plain strain of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet in magnetic pulse forming was investigated by numerical simulation and experimental method. Combination of uniform pressure coil and Holmberg’s specimen was employed to evaluate the plain strain of AZ31 sheet. The numerical simulation for magnetic pulse plain strain of AZ31 sheet is performed by means of ANSYS FEA software. The magnetic flux density of uniform pressure coil was distributed uniformly, especially at the center of gauged area of AZ31 sheet directly in relation to the deformation behavior of AZ31 sheet. The velocity of typical point increases as increasing energy, and the more position closes to the center of sheet the higher velocity achieves. The forming height is increased with increasing discharge voltage. Compared with C=768 µF and C=1536 µF, the capacitance of 1152 µF is more effective for forming, which is confirmed by experiments. The peak velocity at the center of sheet is about 105 m/s. The major strains of magnetic pulse plane strain lie approximately in the strain ranges of 5.83-6.45%. However, the 3.22-3.82% (major strain) are the limit strains in quasi-static condition. The experimental results indicate that the major strain of AZ31 sheet improves about 75% compared with the quasi-static case.