Pulsed electrohydraulic springback calibration of parts stamped from advanced high strength steel

Electrohydraulic calibration (EHC) of springback is a novel method of removing springback from stamped sheet metal panels and is based upon the electro-hydraulic effect: a complex phenomenon related to the discharge of high voltage electrical current through a liquid. The EHC process involves clamping a stamped panel against a female die with the desired part shape and then applying several pulses of pressure onto and through the thickness of the sheet, in a process somewhat similar to conventional coining operations. However, in EHC the pressure is applied by a fluid and through the use of the electrohydraulic effect, and not with a matching hard tool as done in coining. In EHC, electrical energy is stored in a bank of capacitors and is converted into kinetic energy within the liquid by rapidly discharging the stored energy across a pair of electrodes submerged in a fluid. The objective of this paper is to describe the newly developed EHC process, to report the results of early proof-of-concept experiments, to present the results of more advanced experiments using a more industrial tool and actual part geometry, and to describe how numerical modeling techniques were used to optimize the design of the larger and more industrial tool. The developed concept of electrohydraulic stress relieving calibration is based upon clamping a stamped panel to the calibration die surface with the target shape and then applying pulses of pressure to eliminate internal stresses in the stamped panel. When a stamped blank is removed from a forming die, allowed to springback, and then clamped to a calibration die, the internal elastic stresses within the panel in such a configuration serve as a memory of the shape of the blank after springback, and it is these residual stresses that EH calibration is intended to remove from the panel. The developed concept of stress relieving calibration was initially validated by a simple experiment consisting of submerging a bent strip of aluminum into the fluid within an EH chamber, so that both the outer and inner surfaces of the strip (where the internal stresses from bending are located) were exposed to the fluid and the pressure pulse. This experiment served as an initial confirmation that impact with the tool is not necessary to achieve the calibration effect. The sheet metal materials used in this study, and for which springback was eliminated after forming, include DP 980 at 1.0 mm and 1.4 mm thick, and also DP600 at 1.0 mm thick.