Research on hydroforming of 5A06 aluminum alloy semi-ellipsoid shell with differential thickness.

For the purpose of eliminating the annular welding seams in welding structures with differential thickness, a hydroforming method using a circular 5A06 aluminum alloy plate with a radial differential thickness in coupling with a flexible polyurethane auxiliary plate was proposed to form an integrated semi-ellipsoid shell. The circular 5A06 aluminum alloy plate had a smaller in the middle and a larger thickness in the periphery. In the forming process of such aluminum alloy plates, concentrated deformation and fracture might have occurred in the thin zone. According to the size of the target specimen, the testing plates with two types of thickness ratios were obtained by mechanical processing. Furthermore, the thickness and strain of the drawn specimens with different thickness ratios were analyzed under different hydraulic pressure by means of deep drawing experiments. Compared to the conventional deep drawing, the formability of 5A06 aluminum alloy plates with differential thickness could be effectively improved by hydroforming. The integrated semi-ellipsoid shells with the thickness ratios of 2/3 and 1/2 were obtained under the hydraulic pressure of 10 MPa with maximum thinning ratios of 8.5% and 10.9%, respectively. In a word, the increase in hydraulic pressure could effectively reduce the maximum thinning ratio in the thin zone, and improve the thickness distribution uniformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]