Analysis and Optimization of the Electrohydraulic Forming Process of Sinusoidal Corrugation Tubes

Aluminum alloy thin-walled structures are widely used in the automotive industry due to their advantages related to light weight and crashworthiness.They can be produced at room temperature by the electrohydraulic forming process.In the present study,the influence of the related parameters on the forming quality of a 6063 aluminum alloy sinusoidal corrugation tube has been assessed.In particular,the orthogonal experimental design(OED)and central composite design(CCD)methods have been used.Through the range analysis and variance analysis of the experimental data,the influence degree of wire diameter(WD)and discharge energy(DE)on the forming quality was determined.Multiple regression analysis was performed using the response surface methodology.A prediction model for the attaching-die state coefficient was established accordingly.The following optimal arrangement of parameters was obtained(WD=0.759 mm,DE=2.926 kJ).The attaching-die state coefficient reached the peak value of 0.001.Better optimized wire diameter and discharge energy for a better attaching-die state could be screened by CCD compared with OED.The response surface method in CCD was more suitable for the design and optimization of the considered process parameters.

Effect of geometrical parameters on forming quality of high-strength TA18 titanium alloy tube in numerical control bending

The forming quality of high-strength TA18 titanium alloy tube during numerical control bending in changing bending angle β, relative bending radius R/D and tube sizes such as diameter D and wall thickness t was clarified by finite element simulation. The results show that the distribution of wall thickness change ratio Δt and cross section deformation ratio ΔD are very similar under different β; the Δt and ΔD decrease with the increase of R/D, and to obtain the qualified bent tube, the R/D must be greater than 2.0; the wall thinning ratio Δto slightly increases with larger D and t, while the wall thickening ratio Δti and ΔD increase with the larger D and smaller t; the Δto and ΔD firstly decrease and then increase, while the Δti increases, for the same D/t with the increase of D and t.

Viscous Inner and Outer Pressure Forming Method of Thin-walled Tube and Its Application

Aiming at overcoming the difficulties in integral forming of thin-walled tubes with complex shapes, a novel forming method by inner and outer pressure through viscous was proposed. In this method, by dividing large deformation of the part into inner and outer pressure forming deformations, the limit deformation of tube part can be increased by several times. Meanwhile, the principle of viscous inner and outer pressure forming was provided, and key problems during the forming process such as reduction of the wall-thickness and instability wrinkling were analyzed. Thereby, the complex curved surface super-alloy GH3044 thin-walled tube with varying diameter ratio of 1.35（the ratio between the maximum and minimum diameters of the part） can be integrally formed by this method. The experimental surface of the formed part is superior in quality and the wall-thickness distribution is uniform. The results show that the viscous inner and outer pressure forming can provide a new approach for integral forming of thin-walled tubes with complex shapes.

Converting circular tubes into square cross-sectional parts using incremental forming process

Incremental forming process is recently developed to form tubular parts.The fabrication cost and accuracy could be optimized if the effects of process parameters and the optimum values are specified.The aim of this research is using incremental forming of copper tubes to convert a circular tube into a square cross-sectional part.An experimental setup,consisting of a spherical forming punch and a fixture for clamping the tube is designed.The forming punch movement is controlled by a CNC machine.Full factorial design of experiments is carried out in order to determine the effects of process parameters including linear velocity,radial feed,and axial feed of the tool on the thinning ratio and the maximum outer diameter of the square cross-sectional parts.Results show that the radial feed has the major influence on the thinning ratio,while the axial feed plays the major role for the final profile.Increase of radial feed results in higher thinning ratio,and decrease of axial feed results in better shape conformity.Linear velocity does not have a significant effect on thinning ratio.Regression models are also given for predicting the determined responses.

Numerical simulation on the process of multi-point forming for tube

To apply the multi-point forming technology to the field of tube processing,the process of multi-point forming for tube is studied.Numerical simulation for the process of multi-point forming for tube is achieved by using elastic-plastic FEM in ABAQUS.During simulation,reasonable coefficient of mass scaling and friction model of penalty function are used.The influence of several major technological parameters on the process is analyzed.When the tube diameter is 60 mm and the forming curvature radius is 1000 mm,the distortion rate of cross-section and the absolute forming error gradually decrease with the increasing of tube wall thickness;However,when the tube wall thickness is constant,the smaller the curvature radius,the larger the distortion rate of cross-section,but as to forming part,its absolute forming error becomes smaller.

INSIDE BEADING OF A HEXAGONAL TUBE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC FORMING

In this paper local compressive deforming of a hexagonal tube of aluminum (JISA1050) is investigated by an electromagnetic forming. The hexagonal tubes are annealed for 1h. at 400℃， which have 55mm width with 1mm thickness, and 10mm corner edius. The deformed ation of the hexagonal tube, i.e., bead width, is 10, 15, 20mm, respectively. The magnetic flux density in the gap between the field shaper and the external surface of hexagonal tube is measured, and the result is that the magnetic flux density for a given voltage is almost identical along the gap) and decreases with increasing the gap. The profiles and the strain distribution of the hexagonal tube de- formed are affected by the change Of the charging voltage and the dimensions of a bead width. The greater compressive strum in the cireuwtrential direction is develOPed on plane part near corner,while tensile strain on the corner occurs. A metallic block is inserted inside the hexagonal tube so that uniform profile can be obtained. The simulation of the forming is performed by a finite-element method and compared with the experimental results.

Numerical simulation of tube profile growth during spray forming process

Spray forming is a new type of metal material forming process,which can produce metal blanks such as billet, tube,plate etc. A mathematical model has been developed to forecast the shape evolution of tube billets during the spray forming process. The atomizer mass flux as ,radial distribution coefficient bs, draw velocity and diameter of mandrel were considered in this model and the influence of different parameters such as metal flowrate, draw velocity of mandrel, diameter of mandrel on the tube＇ s shape change were simulated and analyzed in this paper. The simulation results obtained from this model can be provided to engineers as reference.

Effect of Deformation Condition on Axial Compressive Precision Forming Process of Tube with Curling Die

The effect of the deformation condition on the axial compressive precision forming process of tube with curling die was investigated by using a rigid-plastic FEM. The results show that the forming accuracy depends mainly on geometric condition rp/d0, little on tube material properties and friction condition; the relative gap △/2rp of double-walled tubes obtained decreases with Increasing rp/d0, and there is a parameter k for a given to/do or rp/t0, when rp/d0 >k, △/2rp< 1, otherwise △/2rp>1.

Heat treatment and granule medium internal highpressure forming of AA6061 tube

The new forming process of AA6061 alloy tube, including solution treatment, granule medium internal high-pressure forming and aging treatment, was developed. The AA6061 alloy tube via heat treatment satisfied the forming requirement, and the granule medium internal high pressure forming method for AA6061 alloy tube was also realized by using convenient implementation with low requirement of equipment and flexible design of product. At a solution temperature of 560℃ and time of 120 min, the elongation of the AA6061 extruded tube increases by 300% and the strength and the hardness dramatically decrease too. Therefore, the AA6061 alloy tube meets the requirement of internal high-pressure forming because of the improvement of formability. The experiments shows that the strength and hardness of AA6061 alloy workpiece recover to that of the as-received alloy at an aging temperature of 180℃ and time of 360 min, and the strength of AA6061 alloy workpiece is equal to the base alloy. The typical parts of convex ring tube, stepped shaft tube and hexagonal tube were successfully produced in lab by using the present forming method. The forming tests show that the maximum expansion ratio(MER) of the AA6061 extruded tube increases by 25.5% and the material properties of formed AA6061 alloy tube reached the performance of as-received alloy.

Research on Extrude-bulge Forming of Tee Tubes with Plastic Medium

This paper presents an experimental research on extrude-bulge forming of tee tubes with plastic medium,an universal device especially designed for this forming process and some parameters having effects on the forming process.Comparison of results of the theoretical analysis with experimental results shows a very good agreement between them.

Effects of coil length on tube compression in electromagnetic forming

The effects of the length of solenoid coil on tube compression in electromagnetic forming were investigated either by theory analysis or through sequential coupling numerical simulation. The details of the electromagnetic and the mechanical models in the simulation were described. The results show that the amplitude of coil current waveform and the current frequency decrease with the increase of the coil length. And the peak value of magnetic pressure is inversely proportional to the coil length. The distribution of the magnetic force acting on the tube is inhomogeneous while the tube is longer than the coil. The shortened coil length causes the increases of the maximum deformation and energy efficiency. The numerically calculated result and the experimental one of the final tube profile are in good agreement.

Failure mechanism and forming limit of tube axial compressive process

Based on minimum energy principle for plastic forming, tearing and buckling failures mechanisms are explored and criteria for them are developed by theoretical analysis and experiment. Combined with finite element software developed forming limit and effects of process parameters on failures are investigated and proper parameters for stable forming are determined. The results show that: 1) The failures and forming limit are mainly determined by geometry and materials parameters of tube blank, fillet radius or half conical angle of die. For the process under fillet die, there exists a maximum fillet radius within which no tearing failure happens, and a maximum radius and a minimum radius range within which no buckling failure happens. For the process under conical die, there exists a maximum and minimum half conical angle range within which no tearing and buckling failures occur. 2) For both forming processes, the higher the value of material strain hardening exponent or the lower the value of relative thickness, the more impossible for tearing and buckling failures to occur, and the larger the ranges of fillet radius and half conical angle. The experiment results verify the reliability and practicability of this research.

Insight into deformation allocation in the multi-pass roll forming of a double-walled brazed tube

Deformation allocation is an important factor that affects 720°curling forming from copper-coated steel strips to double-walled brazed tubes(DWBTs).In this study,four schemes of deformation allocation,considering different weights of the total feed distance,are proposed,and a 3D finite element(FE)model of the multi-pass roll forming process for DWBT is developed and verified to investigate the cross-sectional evolution and deformation features.The results show the following.(i)In the 720°curling forming process from the steel strip into double-walled tubes,the curvature of the formed circular arc initially increases and then remains stable with roll forming,and the inner and outer tubes of the DWBT are formed in the third and fifth forming passes.Size forming can eliminate the gap between the double walls and improve the overall roundness.(ii)For different deformation allocations,the cross-sectional profiles of the roll-formed parts exhibit a discrepancy,and the deformation amount varies with the roll-forming process.The deformation amount in Scheme three is the maximum,and the cross-sectional profile deviates significantly from the ideal shape and fails to form a DWBT,which indicates that the deformation allocation is unsuitable.(iii)The roundness of the outer tube is better than that of the inner tube.Therefore,the roundness of the inner tube is the key to restricting the forming accuracy of the DWBT.Compared with Schemes one and two,Scheme four with a linear allocation of the total feed distance exhibits the best roundness,and the deformation allocation is reasonable;i.e.,when the contact points between the rollers and steel strip are in a straight line,the roundness of the DWBT is in good agreement with the ideal condition.

Forming characteristics of thin-walled tube bending process with small bending radius

Currently requirements of thin-walled tube with small bending radius cause the defects such as wrinkling, overthinning and cross-section distortion more prone to occur in bending process. Based on the analysis of the forming characteristics by analytical and experimental methods, a complete 3D elastic-plastic FEM model of the process was developed using ABAQUS/Explicit code, including bending process, balls retracting and unloading process, and thus the plastic deformation characteristics with small bending radius were investigated. The main results show that: 1) The utmost deformation feature of the NC bending process is its continuous progressive deformation. 2) The occurring conditions of the defects such as wrinkling and tension instability in the process are obtained. The wrinkling is traditional on the double compressive stresses state and the tension instability is on the double tension stresses state. 3) The enhanced non-uniform deformation in thin-walled tube with small bending radius is demonstrated by comparing the stress/ strains distributions under the 1.5D and 1D bending conditions. 4) For ID small bending process, a new method-'stepped mandrel retraction' is proposed to improve the bending quality in experiment according to the FE simulation. The simulation results are verified by experiment.

Effect of Various Field Shapers on Magnetic Pressure in Electromagnetic Inward Tube Forming

In this paper,the influence of various field shapers and their shapes on the distribution of the magnetic flux densities and applied forces on the work-piece in the electromagnetic inward tube forming are studied numerically using the FEA software MAXWELL.First the model was verified with experimental results and thereafter four kinds of field shapers(conical,cylindrical,concave and convex)were considered.Effects of their geometries,such as air gap between field shaper and tube work-piece,height of the step in single and multiple stepped field shaper on magnetic flux densities and magnetic pressures were studied.The results of this research can be applied to design field shaper,tube compression technology,and improve the efficiency of the coil.It is seen that magnetic force decreases if height of step in convex field shaper increases but effective forming region enlarges.Decreasing air gap has also a positive influence on magnetic field increase.Though the object of this research is limited to field shaper for inward tube forming,the results can also be applied to the field shaper for tube bulging.

A Study on 3D FE Simulation Method of NC Bending Process of Thin-walled Tube

The numerical control (NC) precision bending process of thin-walled tube is on e of advanced plastic forming processes with high efficiency, forming precision, strength/weight ratio and low cost, thus it is playing more and more important role in manufacturing parts in aerospace and automobile industries. However, the determination of parameters crucial to make sure tube parts qualified is heavil y experience-based and involves repeated trial-and-errors in practice, which makes the production efficiency reduce drastically and does not fulfill the deve lopment of high technology. With quick development of computer technology and gr adual perfect of plastic forming theory, computer numerical simulation based on finite element method (FEM) has become one of important tools of researching and developing plastic forming technology. Development trend of NC precision bendin g process of tube is simulating its forming process by FEM. Because NC tube bend ing is of 3D nature, it is of great importance to analyze the forming mechanism and find out the influence law of forming parameters on forming process in the N C precision bending process of thin-walled tube quantitatively by 3D FE simulat ion. Based on the rigid-plastic finite element method (FEM) principle, a 3-dimens ional (3D) rigid-plastic FE simulation system named TBS -3D (tube bending simu lation by 3D FEM) for the NC bending process of thin-walled tube has been devel oped, a reasonable FEM model has been established. By use of this FEM simulation system, a NC bending process of thin-walled has been simulated. And deformed m eshes under different bending stages, stress distribution along bending directio n, relationship between maximal wall thickness changing ratio and bending angle have been obtained. And then some forming laws of NC tube bending obtained are a s follows: (1) NC bending process make tube elongate to some extent; (2) Charact eristic of stress distribution is that the outer area is undergoing tensile stre ss, the inner area is undergoing compression stress, and stress neutral layer mo ves close to the inner area, which is in good accordance with the practice; (3) Maximal wall thinning ratio in the outer tensile area changes only a little with increase of bending angle, and maximal wall thickening ratio in the inner compr ession area increases linearly with bending angle. The above results show that 3 D FE simulation is an important and valid tool of analyzing NC bending process o f tube, this research is beneficial for the practical tube bending process, and it may serve as a significant guide to the practice of the relevant processes.

Analysis of anisotropy mechanism in the mechanical property of titanium alloy tube formed through hot flow forming

Anisotropy of mechanical property is an important feature influencing the service performance of titanium(Ti)alloy tube component.In this work,it is found that the hot flow formed Ti alloy tube exhibits higher yield strength along circumferential direction(CD),and larger elongation along rolling direction(RD),presenting significant anisotropy.Subsequently,the quantitative characteristics and underlying mechanism of the property anisotropy were revealed by analyzing the slip,damage and fracture behavior under the combined effects of the spun{0002}basal texture and fibrous microstructure for different loading directions.The results showed that the prismatic slip in primaryαgrain is the dominant deformation mechanism for both loading directions at the yielding stage.The prismatic slip is harder under CD loading,which makes CD loading present higher yield strength than RD loading.Additionally,the yield anisotropy can be quantified through the inverse ratio of the averaged Schmid Factor of the activated prismatic slip under different loading directions.As for the plasticity anisotropy,the harder and slower slip development under CD loading causes that the CD loading presents larger external force and normal stress on slip plane,thus leading to more significant cleavage fracture than RD loading.Moreover,the micro-crack path under RD loading is more tortuous than CD loading because the fibrous microstructure is elongated along RD,which may suppress the macro fracture under RD loading.These results suggest that weakening the texture and fibrous morphology of microstructure is critical to reduce the differences in slip,damage and fracture behavior along different directions,alleviate the property anisotropy and optimize the service performance of Ti alloy tube formed by hot flow forming.

Numerical simulation of the preparation of semi-solid metal slurry with damper cooling tube method

In semi-solid forming process, preparing the slurry with rosette or globular microstructure is very important. A new approach named the damper cooling tube method （DCT）, to produce the semi-solid metal slurry, has been introduced. To optimize the technical parameters in designing the apparatus, the finite volume method was adopted to simulate the flow process. The temperature effects on the rheological properties of the slurries were also considered. The effects of the technical parameters on the slurry properties were studied in detail.

Effect of microstructure on outer surface roughening of magnesium alloy tubes in die-less mandrel drawing

The crystal orientation and outer surface roughening of magnesium alloy tubes were evaluated to clarify the effect of the mandrel on the microstructure and outer surface roughness in die-less mandrel drawing. Locally heated ZM21 tubes with an outer diameter of 6.0 mm and an inner diameter of 3.8 mm were drawn with and without a mandrel. The outer surface roughness and crystal orientation were evaluated in the same measurement area. The results indicated that the outer surface becomes rougher in the die-less mandrel drawing than in die-less drawing for a given outer circumferential strain. The outer surface roughness developed when there was large difference in the pyramidal slip system Schmid factor. Therefore, the slip deformation of the pyramidal slip system seems to be mainly responsible for the outer surface roughening in the die-less mandrel drawing. Furthermore, the crystal grain with the {2110} crystal plane vertical to the normal direction of outer surface had a larger Schmid factor than the other crystal grains. The large number of crystal grains with the {2110} crystal plane in the die-less mandrel drawing is one of the reasons that the outer surface roughness develops more in the die-less mandrel drawing than in die-less drawing for a given outer circumferential strain. These results will contribute significantly to the development of fabrication process of the microtube with high surface quality, which prevents rapid corrosion of biomedical applications.