Numerical and experimental analysis of electrohydraulic forming of Al 5052 and Al 6061 using conical die

There are many conventional forming processes used in industries such as hydraulic forming and die-punch forming. High strain rate forming is a process of strain hardening in which the yield strength of the material increases, and therefore we can deform materials like aluminium and steel beyond their forming limit. One of the high strain rate forming processes currently under study is electro-hydraulic forming (EHF). In this work, the design of the experimental setup for EHF has been proposed and prepared for performing. Numerical simulations were also performed for EHF in Abaqus for materials Al 5052 and Al 6061 T6. Commercial Al, Al 5052, and Al 6061 series were deformed by EHF high-energy pressure pulse inside a conical die. The dome height of forming sheets at different input parameters was quantified and analysed. Dynamic loading was applied on a sheet and allowed it to deform plastically. The simulated results were validated based on the results obtained from the experiments. After that, a simulation model ran for the same dome height and was carried out to obtain results for Al 5052 and Al6061 T6 alloy.