Investigation of the effect of electrodes position on formability and thickness distribution of sheet metals in electrohydraulic free-forming

Electrohydraulic forming (EHF) is a high velocity forming process in which the electric energy stored in the capacitors are suddenly discharged between two electrodes submerged in a water-filled chamber. During the discharge, the water between the electrodes vaporizes and creates a shock wave that is transferred to the blank using the water and forms it. One of the key parameters in electrohydraulic forming is the determination of the suitable position of the electrodes. In this research the effect of electrodes position in electrohydraulic free-forming is investigated using the finite element simulation. First the experiments available in the literature is simulated using the software ABAQUS/ Explicit and compared with the experimental results which shows good agreement with. Then by changing the position of the electrodes, the effect of their position on the formability and thickness distribution of the blank is investigated. The results indicates that the forming a component is only possible in limited positions of the electrodes and there is a position for the electrodes that not only improves the sheet thickness but also decreases the possibility of the failure.