Multilayer and Fiber Metal Laminate Materials Hydro-Bulging

Abstract

Advanced materials such as aluminum alloys and composites offer great potential for weight reduction applications in automotive and aerospace vehicles construction. In order to investigate the feasibility of using such materials in the form of laminates, sheet bulging with single-layer aluminum and the aluminum/Composite laminate with the carbon cloth as the middle layer is investigated under uniform liquid pressure conditions. The aluminum sheet stress-strain, wall thickness distribution, carbon fiber radius stress-strain distribution and the effect of die entrance radius etc. are discussed and compared in details. FE results validate that the numerical method can predict the same fracture regions for bulging-blank as observed in experimental tests. Furthermore, the study validates that multi-layer sheet hydro-bulging process with composite fiber as a middle layer is not feasible to form laminates due to rupture of composite fibers near edge regions. Further study is needed to improve the methodology.