Experimental Observations of Quasi-Static-Dynamic Formability in Biaxially Strained AA5052-O

To establish the efficacy of electromagnetically assisted sheet metal stamping (EMAS), a series of combined hydraulic bulging and electromagnetic forming (EMF) experiments are presented to evaluate the biaxial quasi-static-dynamic formability of an aluminum alloy (AA5052-O) sheet material. Data on formability are plotted in principal strain space and show an enhanced biaxial formability beyond the corresponding experimental results from conventional forming limit diagram. The plastic strains produced by the combined process are a little larger than or at least similar with those obtained in the fully dynamic EMF process. In addition, the biaxial forming limits of aluminum sheets undergoing both very low and high quasi-static prestraining are almost similar in quasi-static-dynamic bulging process. Limit formability seems to depend largely on the high-velocity loading condition as dictated by EMF. It appears that in quasi-static-dynamic forming, quasi-static loading is not of primary importance to the material’s formability. Based on these observations, one may be able to develop forming operations that take advantage of this formability improvement of quasi-static-dynamic deformation. Also, this could enable the use of a quasi-static preform fairly close to the quasi-static material limits for the design of an EMAS process.