Formability enhancement in magnesium alloy deep drawing by local heating and cooling technique

A new deep drawing process with a local heating and cooling technique was developed because sheet forming of a magnesium alloy is very difficult by the conventional method at room temperature. The objective of this study is to clarify how much the formability of a magnesium alloy sheet can be enhanced by using the new technique. A magnesium alloy sheet of 0.5 mm thickness was used. Deep drawing experiments were conducted at a temperature of about 400 degreesC for the blank and deep drawing tool (holder and die) and at a punch speed of 200 mm/min. As a result, the drawn cup height of 115 mm was achieved by using both the local heating and cooling technique and the variable blank holder pressure (BHP) technique. It is confirmed that the deep drawing performance of the magnesium alloy can be considerably enhanced under the appropriate temperature distribution for the local heating and cooling technique and with variable BHP control. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.