Investigations of sheet metal forming by vaporizing metal foils

This study aimed to investigate the forming behavior of magnesium alloy by vaporizing metal foils. This process was conducted at room temperature and no heat treatment for the workpiece was required. The free bulging test was applied to identify the formability of the magnesium alloy AZ 31, and the perforated sheet forming test was used to measure the pressure distributions. The effectiveness of the polyurethane plates on generating shock pressure for the metal forming work was firstly examined. The pressure distributions of vaporizing single foils and tailored foils were subsequently discussed. The pressure distributions were mainly determined by the active areas of the foil specimens. AZ 31 magnesium sheets with a thickness of 1 mm and 1.8 mm were formed by the free bulging test under different charging energies. A bulging height of 27.28 mm for the AZ 31 sheet in 1.8 mm was acquired under a charging energy of 4.8 kJ. Vaporizing foils was found to be a feasible technique to conduct magnesium alloy forming without heat treatment for the workpiece.