Development of Model for Deformation in Water Hammer Forming Process

Liqud or Water hammer forming is a non traditional type of forming technique in which a dead weight drop freely from a certain height over a plunger working inside a cylinder containing water or hydraulic fluid generates shock waves which reach the sheet metal kept at a lower part of the cylinder and deforms it to the shape of the die placed below the sheet metal. Some of the important process variables that effect deformation process are the input energy height of the water column and properties of work material. The speed of deformation and pressure generated are quite low comparatively with other unconventional forming processes. The types of components which can be produced by this technique are identical to those made by electro hydraulic method. In the present work full factorial design of experiments (DOE) technique is used in order to find the effect of input parameters on deformation. Contribution of each factor on output is determined by ANOVA ( Analysis of Variance ).