Effect of pulse width of middle-coil current on deformation behavior in electromagnetic tube forming under two-stage coils system

In the majority of electromagnetic tube forming system, the distribution of Lorentz force acting on tube is restricted and has poor controllability, which leads to the tube being unable to meet the requirement of manufacturing flexibly. A new electromagnetic tube-forming method based on the two-stage coils system, which consists of two coils and two independent capacitor banks, has been proposed to improve the distribution mode and controllability of Lorentz force. With higher deformation depth and less occurrence of cracking compared with the conventional one single-coil system; this method has been proved to be effective in improving the deformation behavior of tube in electromagnetic forming through experiments. However, the deformation behavior of tube in this forming method still needs further studies. In this paper, the effect of pulse width of middle-coil current on AA1060 aluminum tube deformation behavior under two-stage coil system is investigated through simulation model, which is based on the combination of current filament method and finite element method. Results show that the short pulse width of the middle-coil current can achieve larger deformation depth of tube under relatively small discharging energy, and the long pulse width of the middle-coil current has good performance in deformed profile. Moreover, the thickness reduction in the case of long pulse width of middle-coil current is less than the case of short pulse width of the middle-coil current under equal deformation depth of tube.