Investigation of electromagnetic incremental forming of single-curvature thin-walled aluminum alloy skins

In this paper, thin-walled aluminum alloy parts were fabricated using electromagnetic incremental forming with an elastic cushion. The effect of the thickness of the elastic cushion and the discharge voltage on the skin-forming quality is analyzed using numerical simulation. When the discharge voltage is 6 kV, the springback of the sheet decreases with increasing cushion thickness. However, when the cushion thickness increases to 15 mm, the sheet surface produces a 0.78-mm bulge. When, however, a 10-mm-thick cushion is used, the springback of the sheet decreases with increasing discharge voltage. On the other hand, when the discharge voltage is 8 kV, the surface of the plate produces a 1.14-mm bulge, which makes the surface not smooth. Therefore, the optimal process parameters in this paper are a 7-kV discharge voltage and a 10-mm cushion thickness. Moreover, the springback of the sheet metal can be greatly reduced after discharging six times at different positions. Based on the optimum process parameters, which are determined by the numerical simulation, experimental testing is performed. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation.