Effects of driver sheet on magnetic pulse forming of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets

In this work, the formability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets was investigated by electromagnetic bulging experiments with driver sheet. Al (0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm thick) and Cu (1 mm thick) driver sheets were used to accelerate the AZ31 sheet in electromagnetic forming (viz magnetic pulse forming) process. In order to evaluate the effect of impact induced by driver sheet, the electromagnetic bulging experiments with gap between AZ31 sheet and driver sheet were investigated. Compared with quasi-static forming limit results, increases in the major and minor principal strains (with 0.5 mm, 1 mm driver sheet, and without driver sheet) of approximately 68 % and 72 % were achieved, respectively. However, the major and minor principal strains with 2 mm Al driver sheet increased about 148 % and 184 %. When the energy is up to 2.788 kJ after the first crack (with 1 mm Al driver sheet) producing, the major and minor strains increase about four times compared to the quasi-static condition.     

Failure modes during uniaxial deformation of magnesium alloy AZ31B tubes

This study examines magnesium alloy AZ31B circular tubing subject to uniaxial compressive loading and compares their performance to steel (ASTM A106 Grade B) and aluminium alloy AA6061T6 circular tubing at both low and high strain rates. Quasi-static tests were undertaken using a hydraulic testing machine for a range of tube lengths and thicknesses for tubes with an outside diameter of approximately 48 mm. To examine the effects of higher strain rate, a drop test rig was used. It was found that magnesium alloy AZ31B outperforms both the steel and aluminium alloys in terms of energy absorption for equivalent mass when subject to uniaxial compressive loads for the thicker sections. This is further enhanced by alloy AZ31B’s strain rate sensitivity, as there is a dramatic increase in the energy absorption at higher strain rates. However, the AZ31B tubes usually fail by fracturing, which generally involves a shear fracture mode, unlike the aluminium and steel tubes, which generally retained their structural integrity to a higher degree. The greatest energy absorption was obtained when the AZ31B failed via fine sharding. This failure mode appeared to be related to the presence of micro-cracks on the surface of the section obtained by overheating during extrusion. At higher strain rates, much greater plasticity and compaction are present in the fracture modes for the thicker AZ31B tubing. Some of the fracture modes have been discussed and the failure/fracture modes are compared with a typical aluminium alloy tube failure mode classification chart.     

Effects of temperature and driver sheet for magnesium alloy sheet in magnetic pulse forming

Thermal effect from warm temperature is always used to improve the formability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet. However, it is seldom employed to deform AZ31 sheet in magnetic pulse forming process, due to increasing resistivity and decreasing effect of high strain rate. In this study, Al driver sheets without heating were used to strength effect of high strain rate and drive AZ31 sheet with warm temperature to deform. Method of numerical simulation was used to analyze magnetic pulse forming of AZ31 sheet with driver sheet and temperature. Magnetic flux density and magnetic force with and without Al driver sheet (thickness of 1, 1.5, and 2 mm) and different temperature (25, 100, 150, 200, and 250°C) were investigated. Deformation processes and velocity with Al driver sheet and different temperature were analyzed. The results indicate that it is better for formability of AZ31 sheet to adopt 1-mm Al driver sheet at higher discharge energy and warm temperature.     

Dynamic mechanical behaviour of AZ31 magnesium alloy

To investigate the dynamic mechanical behavior of AZ31 Mg alloy,dynamic compression was carried out using a split Hop kinson pressure bar(SHPB) apparatus at strain rates up to 2.0×103 s-1,and d ynamic hardness was tested employing a dynamic hardness device at room temperatu re.Microstructural characteristic was analysed by optical microscopy.The dynam ic compression results demonstrate that AZ31 Mg alloy exhibits obvious yield phe nomena and strain hardening behavior at high strain rates.The basically same cu rvature of stress-strain curves shows a similar strain hardening rate.The dyna mic yield strength changes little,and the peak stress increases with the strain rates.The dynamic hardness test results indicate that the dynamic mechanical p roperties of AZ31 alloy sheet are anisotropic.The dynamic hardness increases sl owly with average strain for the 0° and 45° oriented samples.For the 90° ori e nted sample,dynamic hardness with strain increases rapidly first and then decre ases when the strain is more than 0.14.An examination by optical microscopy aft er high strain rate deformation reveals the occurrence of twinning,and the twin area percentage escalates with the strain rate increasing.     

Analysis of the bulging process of an AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet with a uniform pressure coil

As the lightest metal material, magnesium alloy is widely used in the aerospace, automobile, and consumer electronic industries. However, magnesium alloy sheet has poor formability at room temperature. Electromagnetic forming is a high velocity forming technique that can promote the formability of low ductility materials, improve the strain distribution of workpieces, and reduce their wrinkling and springback. In this work, a uniform pressure coil was used to bulge AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. The finite element method was then used to analyze this bulging process. The bulging contours and displacements of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets were consistent with the experiment results. The distribution of the magnetic field intensity and magnetic field forces were found to be better than using a flat spiral coil. The deformation rule of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet using the uniform pressure coil differed from that using the flat spiral coil. The largest strain occurred at the center of the sheet.     

Elevated temperature deformation behavior in an AZ31 magnesium alloy

An AZ31 magnesium alloy was tested at constant temperatures ranging from 423 to 473 K (0.46 to 0.51T _m ) under constant stresses. All of the creep curves exhibited two types depending on stress levels. At low stress (σ/G<4×10⁻³), the creep curve was typical of class A (Alloy type) behavior. However, at high stresses (σ/G>4×10⁻³), the creep curve was typical of class M (Metal type) behavior. At low stress level, the stress exponent for the steady-state creep rate was of 3.5 and the true activation energy for creep was 101 kJ/mole which is close to that for solute diffusion. It indicates that the dominant deformation mechanism was glide-controlled dislocation creep. At low stress level wheren=3.5, the present results are in good agreement with the prediction of Fridel model.     

Tribology characteristics of magnesium alloy AZ31B and its composites

In this paper, wear characteristics of magnesium alloy, AZ31B, and its nano-composites, AZ31B/nano-Al₂O_3, processed by the disintegrated melt deposition technique are investigated. The experiments were carried out using a pin-on-disk configuration against a steel disk counterface under different sliding speeds of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 m/s for 10 N normal load, and 1, 3 and 5 m/s for 30 N normal load. The worn samples and wear debris were then examined under a field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer to reveal its wear features. The wear test results show that the wear rates of the composites are gradually reduced over the sliding speed range for both normal loads. The composite wear rates are higher than that of the alloy at low speeds and lower when sliding speed further increased. The coefficient of friction results of both the alloy and composites are in the range of 0.25–0.45 and reaches minimums at 5 m/s under 10 N and 3 m/s under 30 N load. Microstructural characterization results established different dominant mechanisms at different sliding speeds, namely, abrasion, delamination, oxidation, adhesion and thermal softening and melting. An experimental wear map was then constructed.     

A study on material modeling to predict spring-back in V-bending of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at various temperatures

AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets are usually performed at high temperatures of 200–250°C due to their unusual hexagonal close-packed structure and low ductility at room temperature. In this study, to predict V-bending/unbending spring-back of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets subjected to high temperatures, a modified kinematic/isotropic hardening model considering the unusual plastic behavior of the magnesium alloy sheets, which follow the modified Johnson–Cook (JC) model, was used by way of a user-material subroutine, using an explicit finite element code. The simulation results from the modified hardening model at room temperature are compared with measurements of tension/compression and compression/tension tests. The modified JC model was then applied to predict tension/compression and compression/tension curves at high temperatures. Finally, an actual V-bending/unbending process for an AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at high temperatures was performed to verify the spring-back angle, and this angle was then compared with spring-back angle predictions of the FE simulation. The proposed hardening model showed good agreement between simulation results and corresponding experiments.     

AZ31B镁合金手机外壳拉深模具设计

以AZ31B镁合金手机外壳的拉深模具设计和实际生产为例,对AZ31B镁合金的拉深成形过程进行研究。实际生产表明,选取合适的模具结构和参数可以改善AZ31B镁合金板材的拉深成形性能;在拉深成形时,通过对坯料温度和模具温度等主要影响因素的控制,可有效地消除AZ31B镁合金在拉深过程中的拉裂缺陷。     

Modeling the material behavior of magnesium alloy AZ31 using different yield criteria

Nowadays, the finite element analysis (FEA) is playing a main rule in fields of sheet metal forming for designing processes and dimensioning parts. The most frequent yield criteria used in the FE commercial programs for the sheet-metal-forming simulation, like AUTOFORM, PAMSTAMP, etc., are Hill’48 for common steels or Barlat’89 and various BBC models for some aluminum alloys. In this paper, different yield loci for biaxial tensile stress conditions of the magnesium sheet metal alloy AZ31 are investigated. The experimental investigations have been done using the specimen geometry for the experimental setup developed at the Chair of Manufacturing Technology (LFT) of the University of Erlangen. The yielding behavior is determined basing exclusively on real material data out of experiments so that no FE calculations are necessary to detect strains and stresses. Using these data, several yield criteria are applied to approximate the real material characteristics, whereas the model of BBC’2005 leads to the best agreement for uniaxial yield stresses, the anisotropy coefficients, and the yield locus.     

AZ31镁合金热轧制工艺及数值模拟研究

针对AZ31镁合金平板的轧制过程进行试验研究,通过控制温度及不同道次的压下率等工艺条件,最终将36mm厚的镁合金铸锭,压制成厚度为1mm的板材.同时运用MSC.Marc软件,采用显式弹塑性有限元法对AZ31镁合金平板的轧制过程进行热-机耦合三维数值模拟.对轧件在轧制过程的金属流动、温度、应力及应变分布等特点进行分析,并与实际试验结果进行对比,验证了模拟结果的准确性.     

AZ31B镁合金表面激光合金化Al-SiC涂层制备及其性能研究

针对镁合金表面耐磨性差,采用预置粉末法对AZ31B表面进行激光合金化Al-SiC粉末实验。使用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、能谱分析仪(EDS)、摩擦磨损试验机、显微硬度计对合金化涂层的微结构、相组成及性能进行了分析研究。结果表明,强化层与基体呈冶金结合、组织均匀致密;合金化层主要由Mg17Al12、SiC、Mg2Si、Al4C5、Al2O3等相组成。涂层的显微硬度、耐磨损性能都明显高于基体。     

Effects of process parameters on electromagnetic forming of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets at room temperature

In this work, the effects of process parameters on AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were investigated by electromagnetic bulging experiments. The bulging height increases with increasing discharging energy, which is adjusted by tuning discharge voltage and capacitance. The limit dome height of electromagnetic forming is markedly improved as compared to quasi-static forming. In order to improve the efficiency of the energy, 0.5- and 1-mm thick Al driver sheet were used to accelerate the magnesium alloy sheets. For rupturing the AZ31 sheet, the discharging energy can be reduced from a maximum value of 4.356 kJ (no driver) to 2.304 kJ (with1-mm Al driver sheet). The numerical simulation for the electromagnetic forming of AZ31 sheet is performed by means of ANSYS FEA software. The change of velocity, strain rate, and plastic strain energy were analyzed by simulation. Compared with quasi-static forming limit results, increases in the major and minor principal strains of approximately 68 and 72 % were achieved, respectively.