The Hydrodroforming Process of an Automotive Part Aminu
Tube hydroforming (THF) is currently an active area of development in the automotive industry on account of its advantages it offers in comparison to other manufacturing processes. In this paper, four simulations were carried out having the same cross sectional area but different axial feeding and load paths to improve the process design in THF process, in order to help establish the feasibility of the THF processes for specific components and have the potential to reduce the number of forming trials required to standardize the process for production of high quality hydroforming components.In addition, the studies also focus on development of an experiment simulation procedures for the entire hydroforming process. The simulation results focus on the % reduction thickness. It has also focus on the axial feed and load paths which becomes an important and useful method for planning the process design analysis, design of forming process and also planning of the tool. Since they play an important role and also determine accordance of forming limits such as wrinkling, bursting and crushing .The geometry model is analyzed base on different axial load and load paths. The key issues include geometry modeling, materials selection, meshing, boundary conditions, load definition and contact between the tube and the dies.On the base of the simulation, an optimized process parameter combination has obtained and has been verified by the instrument panel frame hydroforming experiment. The works show that:
Tube hydroforming: state-of-the-art and future trends
Abstract With the availability of advanced machine designs and controls, tube hydroforming has become an economic alternative to various stamping processes. The technology is relatively new so that there is no large “knowledge base” to assist the product and process designers. This paper reviews the fundamentals of tube hydroforming technology and discusses how various parameters, such as tube material properties, pre-form geometry, lubrication and process control affect product design and quality. In addition, relations between process variables and achievable part geometry are discussed. Finally, using examples, the status of the current technology and critical issues for future development are reviewed.
Comparison of Shell and Solid Models for Corner Fill in Tube Hydroforming
The tube hydroforming process has been analyzed numerically by finite element analyses. For production applications in the automotive industry, most analyses use shell element models. This is a natural extension from sheet metal forming. However, since it is well known that radial stress and shear distortion are common phenomena in tube hydroforming and shell elements are not formulated to include them, there is a question on how accurate those shell model results are. To answer the above question, a shell element model and a solid element model, with comparable finite element meshes, are used to analyze a corner fill benchmark test and their results are compared. It is found that shortly after plastic deformation occurs, deviations between the shell model and solid model results can be detected. The shell model is less flexible. When further pressurization reduces the corner radius to less than eight (8) times the original thickness, unusually high local stress and strain concentrations developed in one ...