Cladding of aluminum alloy 6061-T6 to mild steel by an electromagnetic tube bulging process: finite element modeling

Abstract

Bimetal tubes have useful applications in various industries where service conditions demand more different requirements in the tube core than its outside surface. The recent use of electromagnetic forces to deform or join metallic workpieces at high speeds has undergone rapid growth for materials processing. However, to date, no sufficient systematic understanding of the underlying principles of a subsequent high-speed electromagnetic tube bulging process to manufacture bimetal tubes has been gained. In this work, magnetic pulse cladding of Al/Fe clad bimetal tubes was analyzed by finite element modeling (FEM) using ANSYS software. The validity of FEM analyses was first confirmed by experiments in terms of the deformed shape. Second, the effect of cladding parameters (such as axial feeding being the dominant factor in the multi-step process) on the bulging and thinning behavior of the Al clad tube was presented in detail. Both the numerical simulation and experimental results show that no more than 70% of the bulging-coil length is an appropriate amount for the feeding length to prevent defects from being introduced by non-uniform deformation in the transition zone of the Al clad tube. The distributions of the magnetic flux line, magnetic force, and plastic strain in different cladding steps were then analyzed. It was concluded that during the multi-step cladding process, there was an uneven distribution of the magnetic field force along the transition zone. Consequently, inharmonious plastic deformation behavior occurs, which results in a limited acceleration of the transition zone to a certain impact velocity.

Keywords

Bimetal tubes / Magnetic pulse cladding / Finite element (FE) simulation / Axial feeding

References

[1] Lapovok R, Ng HP, Tomus D, et al. Bimetallic copper-aluminium tube by severe plastic deformation. Scr Mater, 2012, 66(12): 1081-1084.

[2] Li WY, Wen Q, Yang XW, et al. Interface microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of Al/Cu bimetallic tubes fabricated by a novel friction-based welding technology. Mater Des, 2017, 134: 383-393.

[3] Zhan ZL, He YD, Wang D, et al. Cladding inner surface of steel tubes with Al foils by ball attrition and heat treatment. Surf Coat Technol, 2006, 201(6): 2684-2689.

[4] Balasubramanian V, Rathinasabapathi M, Raghukandan K. Modeling of process parameters in explosive cladding of mild steel and aluminum. J Mater Process Technol, 1997, 63(1–3): 83-88.

[5] Henryk D, Maciej P. On the theory of the process of hot rolling of bimetal plate and sheet. J Mech Work Technol, 1983, 8(4): 309-325.

[6] Wang XS, Li PN, Wang RZ. Study on hydro-forming technology of manufacturing bi-metallic CRA-lined pipe. Int J Mach Tools Manuf, 2005, 45(4–5): 373-378.

[7] Mohebbi MS, Akbarzadeh A. A novel spin-bonding process for manufacturing multilayered clad tubes. J Mater Process Technol, 2010, 210(3): 510-517.

[8] Zhang ZP, Xu WC, Gu TS, et al. Fabrication of steel/aluminum clad tube by spin bonding and annealing treatment. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2018, 94(9–12): 3605-3617.

[9] Krishna BV, Venugopal P, Rao KP. Co-extrusion of dissimilar sintered P/M performs: an explored route to produce bi-metallic tubes. Mater Sci Eng A, 2005, 407(1–2): 77-83.

[10] Haghighat H, Mahdavi MM. Analysis and FEM simulation of extrusion process of bimetal tubes through rotating conical dies. Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China, 2013, 23(11): 3392-3399.

[11] Fan ZS, Yu HP, Meng FC, et al. Experimental investigation on fabrication of Al/Fe bi-metal tubes by the magnetic pulse cladding process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2016, 83(5–8): 1409-1418.

[12] Fan ZS, Yu HP, Li CF. Plastic deformation behavior of bi-metal tubes during magnetic pulse cladding: FE analysis and experiments. J Mater Process Technol, 2016, 229: 230-243.

[13] Yu HP, Li CF. Effects of coil length on tube compression in electromagnetic forming. Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China, 2007, 17(6): 1270-1275.

[14] Mamalis AG, Manolakos DE, Kladas AG, et al. Electromagnetic forming tools and processing conditions: numerical simulation. Mater Manuf Processes, 2006, 21(4): 411-423.

[15] Cui XH, Mo JH, Li JJ, et al. Electromagnetic incremental forming (EMIF): a novel aluminum alloy sheet and tube forming technology. J Mater Process Technol, 2014, 214(2): 409-427.

[16] Cui XH, Mo JH, Li JJ, et al. Tube bulging process using multidirectional magnetic pressure. Int J Adv Manuf Technol, 2017, 90(5–8): 2075-2082.

[17] Siddiqui MA, Correia JPM, Ahzi S, et al. Electromagnetic forming process: estimation of magnetic pressure in tube expansion and numerical simulation. Int J Mater Form, 2009, 2(1): 649-652.