Investigations on the Effect of Loading Rate on the Formability of AA 6082

High strain rate forming (HSRF) is a forming technique where strain rates are in the range of 102 /s–104/s and metals formed using this technique have attributes such as less spring back effect & good formability. In this work, AA 6082 sheets of 1.5 mm thickness were subjected to pneumatic loading under dynamic as well as quasi-static conditions. The formability of the workpiece in terms of maximum mid-point deflection, thickness variation, radial, circumferential, and thickness strains was measured. Experiments were carried out under quasi-static loading and the results were compared with those with dynamic loading and the deviations are explained. The samples subjected to dynamic loading was observed to have good formability (mid-point deflection) as compared to samples subjected to quasi-static loading and the resulting midpoint deflection varied from 9.84 to 14.47 mm and thickness from 1.17–1.343 mm. The experimental results were also compared with the numerical simulations performed using finite element solver (LS−DYNA). The occurrence of larger strain hardening was witnessed in plates subjected to dynamic loading as confirmed by the measurement of dislocation densities using X-ray diffraction studies.