Research Status of Ultrasonic Vibration Assisted Plastic Forming Process

Ultrasonic vibration assisted plastic forming is a process method for assisting the forming of metal materials by means of ultrasonic vibration devices. It is proved that the ultrasonic vibration could reduce the forming force, improve the friction environment, and enhance the formability of the metal material. However, there are some differences in forming characteristics for different materials under different vibrational plastic forming processes. In this paper, the forming principles, the vibration application modes and the forming characteristics of the ultrasonic vibration assisted the wire drawing, equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), upsetting, drawing of the sheets and hydroforming of the tube are reviewed. It emphasizes on the various processes' improvement of the forming efficiency and the quality of the formed parts under the aid of ultrasonic vibration. Finally, the future development trend of ultrasonic vibration assisted plastic forming was prospected.