Investigating the Effects of Cold Bulge Forming Speed on Thickness Variation and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Alloys: Experimental and Numerical

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Razi University of Kermanshah, Kermanshah, Iran

2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

Abstract

In this work, cold bulge forming of an Aluminium-Magnesium (Al-Mg) sheet with a solid bulging medium is performed experimentally and numerically.  Mechanical properties and thickness variations of Al-Mg sheet are evaluated before and after the forming process.  The results indicated that the Al-Mg sheet has taken the desired shape without necking using the cold bulge forming process.  Also, the experimental results show significant improvements in mechanical properties of Al-Mg sheet after bulge forming.  It is proved that the maximum thickness reduction of Al-Mg blank is less than 6% after cold bulge forming.  Numerical simulations of cold bulge forming of Al-Mg sheet are conducted using Abaqus finite element software.  For this purpose, many numerical models are created and analysed to investigate the effects of bulge forming speed on the blank thickness variation for different Aluminium alloys.  In these simulations, four different speed of 1, 5, 15 and 25mm/min are used as forming speeds.  Numerical results of bulge forming of Al-Mg sheet are compared with experimental measurements and good correlation is observed between the results.  Moreover, obtained results from numerical simulations for different Aluminium alloys show that the thickness variations of formed Al-Mg sheet are more uniform by reducing the forming speed.

Keywords


1.     Arab, N., and Nazaryan, E., “Analytical modeling of axi-symmetric sheet metal forming”, International Journal of Engineering, Transactions B: Application,  Vol. 24, No. 1, (2011), 55–63.
 2.     Oraon, M., and Sharma, V., “Predicting force in single point incremental forming by using artificial neural network”, International Journal of Engineering-Transactions A: Basics,  Vol. 31, No. 1, (2017), 88–95.
3.     Hashemolhosseini, H., Foroutan, M., and Farzin, M., “Prediction of Instability in Planar Anisotropic Sheet Metal Forming Processes”, International Journal of Engineering, Transactions B: Application,  Vol. 14, No. 1, (2001), 69–80.
4.     Safari, M., "Two point incremental forming of a complicated shape with negative and positive dies",  Iranian Journal of Materials Forming, Vol. 4, No. 2, (2017), 51-61.
5.     Safari, M. and Mostaan, H., "Experimental and numerical investigation of laser forming of cylindrical surfaces with arbitrary radius of curvature", Alexandria Engineering Journal,  Vol. 55, No. 3, (2016), 1941-1949.
6.     Safari, M., Farzin, M. and Mostaan, H., "A novel method for laser forming of two-step bending of a dome shaped part", Iranian Journal of Materials Forming,  Vol. 4, No. 2, (2017), 1-14.
7.     Safari, M. and Farzin, M., "Experimental investigation of laser forming of a saddle shape with spiral irradiating scheme", Optics & Laser Technology,  Vol. 66, (2015), 146-150.
8.     Mac Donald, B. and Hashmi, M., "Three-dimensional finite element simulation of bulge forming using a solid bulging medium", Finite Elements in Analysis and Design,  Vol. 37, No. 2, (2001), 107-116.
9.     Hwang, Y.-M., Lin, Y.-K. and Altan, T., "Evaluation of tubular materials by a hydraulic bulge test", International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture,  Vol. 47, No. 2, (2007), 343-351.
10.   Boudeau, N. and Malecot, P., "A simplified analytical model for post-processing experimental results from tube bulging test: Theory, experimentations, simulations", International Journal of Mechanical Sciences,  Vol. 65, No. 1, (2012), 1-11.
11.   Zhang, Q., Lang, L., Wang, Y. and Sun, Z., "Theoretical investigation on the springback behavior of aa7b04 sheet in hydraulic bulge process", The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,  Vol. 87, No. 9-12, (2016), 2861-2871.
12.   Tabatabaei, S., Safari, M., Esfahani, R.S., Sichani, A.A. and Moghadam, M.N.P., "Experimental and numerical investigation of cold bulge forming of titanium alloy ti55", World Journal of Mechanics,  Vol. 3, No. 09, (2013), 323-327.
13.   Girard, A., Grenier, Y. and Mac Donald, B., "Numerical simulation of axisymmetric tube bulging using a urethane rod", Journal of Materials Processing Technology,  Vol. 172, No. 3, (2006), 346-355.
14.   Ramezani, M., Ripin, Z.M. and Ahmad, R., "A static friction model for tube bulge forming using a solid bulging medium", The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,  Vol. 43, No. 3-4, (2009), 238-247.
15.   Plastics, A.C.D.-o., "Standard test method for tensile properties of plastics, ASTM International,  (2010).
16.   Plastics, A.C.D.-o., "Standard test method for compressive properties of rigid plastics, ASTM International,  (2008).