Analysis of Electromagnetic Force and Deformation Behavior in Electromagnetic Tube Expansion With Concave Coil Based on Finite Element Method

At present, the cylindrical coil is used to generate the electromagnetic force in electromagnetic tube expansion process. The obtained radial electromagnetic force in the end of the tube is less than the one in the middle of the tube for the end effects. Hence, the tube deformation is inhomogeneous in the axial direction. This paper presents a method named electromagnetic tube expansion with a concave coil to obtain more homogeneous deformation. By using COMSOL software, it gives the simulations for the effect of the geometry parameters of the concave coil on the distribution of the radial electromagnetic force and deformation behavior for the given AA6063-T6 tube. Simulations show that the concave coil with suitable parameters can obtain the homogeneous deformation. Furthermore, the homogeneous deformation range obtained by the concave coil is 36 mm, which is better than the obtained range by the cylindrical coil.

I. Introduction

Electromagnetic forming (EMF) is a high rate forming technology by using pulsed magnetic field to apply electromagnetic force on metallic workpiece [1]. Compared with the traditional forming process, EMF can improve the material forming limitation and reduce the spring-back and the wrinkling [2].