Ultrasonic peen forming of aluminum 6061-T6: Energy minimization subjected to maximum formability and surface properties

• Main Authors: Reza Teimouri, Saeid Amini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2019-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2588840419300277

Minimizing power consumption and enhancement of product quality characteristics are main important aims of sustainable manufacturing process. However, achieving both goals at same time requires comprehensive understanding of process mechanism and having careful control on setup parameters. In the present work, optimization attempt based on response surface methodology (RSM) has been carried out to minimize the energy consumption of ultrasonic peen forming process subjected to desired value of surface roughness, arc height and hardness by finding optimal input setting of indentation depth, vibration amplitude, feed speed and step over. Analysis of variances (ANOVA) has been carried out to obtain the adequacy precision and to find which factor has greatest impact on quality characteristics. Results indicated that step over and vibration amplitude are the most effective factors on forming energy and surface roughness, respectively. On the other hand, the feed rate has greatest impact on arc height and hardness. The optimization results showed setting of 0.07 mm indentation depth, 15 μm vibration amplitude, 1000 mm feed rate and 0.09 mm step over has been selected as an optimal solution causing 2 kJ consumed energy that is less than 50% of maximum energy. In such condition the surface roughness, arc height and hardness improve about 46%, 74% and 29%, respectively. The optimum results have been further verified through a confirmatory experiment and there is good correlation between both approaches. Keywords: Ultrasonic peen forming, Energy consumption, Response surface methodology, Optimization