Investigation of the Effect of Coil Current Waveform on Electromagnetic Tube Forming

The coil current frequency and waveform have a great impact on the forming performance of the workpiece in electromagnetic forming. However, existing research is mostly limited to analyzing the influence of either frequency or waveform on the forming outcome independently, which makes it challenging to fully reveal the intrinsic relationship between current parameters and forming results. In this work, three discharge circuit structures are developed to generate different coil currents composed of various frequencies and waveforms, and their effects on deformation of AA6061 Aluminium alloy tube are systematically investigated through numerical and experimental approaches. Results show that a conventional circuit can generate an attenuated oscillating sinusoidal waveform consisting of several pulse half-waves, while a circuit composed of a thyristor switch can generate a half-wave current, and a circuit consisting of a crowbar circuit can generate a current with a slow decay rate. Further, it is found that at a high-frequency discharge, a current having a slow decay rate is favorable for forming efficiency, as well as reducing coil temperature, while at a low-frequency discharge, the current waveform has almost no effect on the forming efficiency; thus, a half-wave current is highly recommended to significantly reduce the coil temperature. The obtained results are of great significance in guiding the design of coil currents and optimizing electromagnetic forming technology.