Effect of the Radial Dimension of the Driver Sheet on the Electromagnetic Driven Forming

Electromagnetic forming has attracted more and more attention in the advanced manufacturing field as a promising technology to improve the formability of lightweight alloys at room temperature. Electromagnetic forming employs the electromagnetic force between the drive coil and the workpiece to complete the forming. The low conductivity materials such as titanium alloy usually cannot gain enough electromagnetic force to deformation due to the low induced current on the workpiece. The forming performance of low conductivity material can be improved using high conductivity driver sheet which increases the eddy current and the forming force acted on the workpiece. Some efforts to improve and optimize the performance of the electromagnetic driven forming were made. In this study, a copper driver ring for the electromagnetic driven forming of titanium alloy is proposed based on the electromagnetic force distribution. The effect of the radial dimension of the driver ring on the forming result is studied with the numerical simulation model which is verified by the experiment. It is found that the outer radius of the driver ring mainly effects the maximum forming depth, and the inner radius of the driver ring influences the forming profile of the workpiece. The numerical results suggest that the forming depth can be improved and the forming contour can be adjusted while the proposed driver ring is applied in electromagnetic driven forming.