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.

Bulging in incremental sheet forming of cold bonded multi-layered Cu clad sheet: Influence of forming conditions and bending

Bulge is a defect that causes geometrical inaccuracy and premature failure in the innovative incremental sheet forming (ISF) process. This study has two-fold objectives:(1) knowing the bulging behavior of a Cu clad tri-layered steel sheet as a function of forming conditions, and (2) analyzing the bending effect on bulging in an attempt to identify the associated mechanism. A series of ISF tests and bending analysis are performed to realize these objectives. From the cause-effect analysis, it is found that bulge formation in the layered sheet is sensitive to forming conditions in a way that bulging can be minimized utilizing annealed material and performing ISF with larger tool diameter and step size. The bending under tension analysis reveals that the formation of bulge is an outgrowth of bending moment that the forming tool applies on the sheet during ISF. Furthermore, the magnitude of bending moment depending upon the forming conditions varies from 0.046 to 10.24 N·m/m and causes a corresponding change in the mean bulge height from 0.07 to 0.91 mm. The bending moment governs bulging in layered sheet through a linear law. These findings lead to a conclusion that the bulge defect can be overcome by controlling the bending moment and the formula proposed can be helpful in this regards.

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.

Modelling and Simulation on the Effect of Hot Forming Damage on Three-Point Bending Performance of Beam Components

The effects of forming damage are analyzed,which occur during hot stamping process,on the load-carrying capacity and failure mode of hot stamped beams.A damage-coupled pre-forming constitutive model was proposed,in which the damage during hot stamping process was introduced into the service response.The constitutive model was applied into the three-point bending simulation of a hot stamped beam,and then the influences of forming damage on the load-carrying capacity and cracks propagation were investigated.The results show that the forming damage reduces the maximum load capacity of the hot stamped beam by 7.5%.It also causes the crack to occur earlier and promotes crack to propagate along the radial direction of the punch.

Prediction of stiffener buckling in press bend forming of integral panels

In order to predict the buckling of stiffeners in the press bend forming of the integral panel,a method for solving the critical buckling load of the stiffeners in press bend forming process was proposed based on energy method,elastic-plastic mechanics and numerical analysis.Bend to buckle experiments were carried out on the designed press bend dies.It is found that the predicted results based on the proposed method agree well with the experimental results.With the proposed method,the buckling of the stiffeners in press bend forming of the aluminum alloy integral panels with high-stiffener can be predicted reasonably.

Effects of pre-deformation mode and strain on creep aging bend-forming process of Al-Cu-Li alloy

The bending deformation method was adopted to characterize the creep deformation behavior of Al-Cu-Li alloy in the creep aging forming(CAF) process based on a series of CAF tests, and the evolution laws of its mechanical properties and microstructures under different pre-deformation conditions were studied. The results show that the bending creep strain characterization method can intuitively describe the creep variation. With the increase of the pre-deformation strain, the creep strain of the specimen firstly increases and then decreases. The increase of the pre-deformation strain can promote the course of aging precipitation, and improve the formed alloy’s tensile properties at room temperature, the Kahn tearing properties, and the fatigue propagation properties. Pre-rolled specimens produce a slightly weaker work hardening than pre-stretched specimens, but they also create a stronger aging-strengthening effect;thus the strength, toughness and damage performance can be improved to some extent. Among all the types of specimens, the specimen with 3% rolling after CAF treatment has the best comprehensive mechanical properties.

Cryogenic springback of 2219-W aluminum alloy sheet through V-shaped bending

A V-shaped bending device was established to evaluate the effects of temperature and bending fillet radius on springback behavior of 2219-W aluminum alloy at cryogenic temperatures.The cryogenic springback mechanism was elucidated through mechanical analyses and numerical simulations.The results indicated that the springback angle at cryogenic temperatures was greater than that at room temperature.The springback angle increased further as the temperature returned to ambient conditions,attributed to the combined effects of the “dual enhancement effect” and thermal expansion.Notably,a critical fillet radius made the springback angle zero for 90° V-shaped bending.The critical fillet radius at cryogenic temperatures was smaller than that at room temperature,owing to the influence of temperature variations on the bending moment ratio between the forward bending section at the fillet and the reverse bending section of the straight arm.

Optimization of press bend forming path of aircraft integral panel

In order to design the press bend forming path of aircraft integral panels,a novel optimization method was proposed, which integrates FEM equivalent model based on previous study,the artificial neural network response surface,and the genetic algorithm.First,a multi-step press bend forming FEM equivalent model was established,with which the FEM experiments designed with Taguchi method were performed.Then,the BP neural network response surface was developed with the sample data from the FEM experiments.Furthermore,genetic algorithm was applied with the neural network response surface as the objective function. Finally,verification was carried out on a simple curvature grid-type stiffened panel.The forming error of the panel formed with the optimal path is only 0.098 39 and the calculating efficiency has been improved by 77%.Therefore,this novel optimization method is quite efficient and indispensable for the press bend forming path designing.

FEM equivalent model for press bend forming of aircraft integral panel

An original plastic equivalent model was proposed to solve the problem of excessive FEM simulation time when designing the press bend forming path and optimizing the process parameters of press bend forming of the integrally stiffened aircraft panels. Based on the in-depth analysis of the mechanics of the bending and springback of the detailed model and the equivalent model of the integral panels,the plastic equivalent model of the virtual material with special initial yield stress and hardening coefficients was constructed. FEM results indicate that the objective of getting the similar contour with the same press bend forming path is achieved with the error less than 6%,and the efficiency of FEM simulation is improved by more than 80%. The plastic equivalent model is valuable and essential for the further research on the press bend forming process of large scale complicated integral panels.

The Designation Method of Bend Forming Dies for Aluminum Tube of PE-Al-PE Composite Pipe

The PE-Al-PE composite pipe is a multiplayer pipe t hat is composed of PE (polyethylene) and Aluminum. Al is inlayed the inner PE la yer and the outer PE layer. In the producing technological process of this kind of pipe the bend forming of Al belt to tube is very important. It is the bend fo rming dies that are used in the process of producing PE-Al-PE pipe that is stu died in this article. To make a elaborate division, these dies can be classified as bending dies and forming dies here. In this paper, the designation of bendin g dies and forming dies that are used in producing technological process of PE- Al-PE pipe is put forward. The process starts from a coil of Al belt, in the ac tion of pulling force, passes between several bending dies to change its shape. The first step is to change Al belt to U shape. A couple of rolling wheels can b e used to shape the Al belt. The Al belt goes between the two rolling wheels, dr ives the wheels, at the same time is formed as the shape of the rolling wheels. Considering of the factors such as spring of the bend Al belt, frictional force between Al and the die, bending force needed to bend Al belt, etc., it must be s haped gradually into U by several dies. The designation of these dies has been g iven in this paper. The next step is to forming the U shape into a circle. The U shape Al belt goes through a round that is formed with a four-roller die, and then is shaped to a circle. Because the latter procedure requires the Al circle has a laminated area to be ultrasonic welded, this die must be designed to let t he two edges of the circle belt to be piled up to a definite width. But except f or the laminated area the other of the circle should be as round as possible. So the four rollers are not the same. The calculation and designation of the rolle rs of this four-roller die has also been given. The designation of the roller w hich is supposed to leave a gap to let the two edges of the circle belt to be pi led up is to make a fine rotation of an original circle. Then calculates the cen ter of the rotated arc and defines the arc completely. The designation method of the other rollers has also been given in this paper.

Sheet Bending Deformation in Production of Thin-Walled Pipes

Nowadays, thin-walled super-diameter pipes are produced by the method of plastic bending of sheets. After a sheet is bent into a pipe and its ends are welded, a pipe billet is subjected to expansion deformation. The technology of forming end areas of a sheet is developed and formulaes forming forces equations are deduced. Experimental investigations of deformation are undertaken.

Forming limit of textured AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet at different temperatures

Repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） was carried out to improve the texture of commercial AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. All specimens were prepared in the rolling direction. The forming limit diagrams （FLDs） of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet were determined experimentally by conducting stretch-forming tests at room temperature, 100, 200 and 300 ℃ Compared with the as-received sheet, the lowest limited strain of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet with tilted texture in the FLD increased by 79% at room temperature and 104% at 100 ℃. The texture also affected the extension of the forming limit curves （FLC） in the FLD. However, the FLCs of two kinds of sheets almost overlapped at temperature above 200 ℃. It can be concluded that the reduction of （0002） texture intensity is effective to the improvement of formability not only at room temperature but also at low-and-medium temperature. The effect of texture on FLDs becomes weak with increasing temperature.

Creep age forming of 2124 aluminum alloy with single/double curvature

In order to investigate the springback rules, the variation characteristics of physical property and microstructure in bending creep age forming process, a series of creep forming tests of 2124 aluminum alloy were conducted based on three kinds of single and double curvature forming tools. The results show that the spingback rate would be the minimum under the optimal coupling conditions among the temperature, aging time and internal stress state of material. Difference exists in the two directions of the formed sample with double curvature, but the curvature variation keeps the same. Yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and fracture toughness of the double curvature formed sample appear to be higher than those of the single curvature formed sample under the same aging condition, but the elongation and the anisotropy are opposite.

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.

Springback of thin-walled tube NC precision bending and its numerical simulation

The springback is one of the key factors which affect the forming quality of thin-walled tube NC precision bending. The elastic-plastic finite element method was proposed to study the springback process of thin-walled tube NC precision bending and the combination of dynamic explicit algorithm and the static implicit algorithm was proposed to solve the whole process of thin-walled tube NC precision bending. Then, the 3D elastic-plastic finite element model was established based on the DYNAFORM platform, and the model was verified to be reasonable. At last, the springback rule of thin-walled tube NC precision bending and the effect of geometry and material parameters on the springback rule of thin-walled tube NC precision bending were studied, which is useful to controlling the springback of thin-walled tube NC precision bending, and the numerical simulation method can be used to study other effect of parameters on the forming quality of thin-walled tube NC precision bending.

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.

EXPERIMENT AND SIMULATION FOR THICK-PLATE BENDINGBY HIGH FREQUENCY INDUCTOR

In order to produce thick plates with complicated curved surface, a prototype bending machine by the use of high frequency inductor was developed. The bending mechanism is based on the localized stresses which are induced from the difference of temperature in thickness by the high frequency inductor. The operating speed and the thickness of plate were examined from the experiment, and the variation of the temperature was measured. Finite element analysis was carried out in the second part based on the experimentally obtained temperature distribution. The so-called Mindlin plate element was used in order to perform the simulation efficiently. The strategy to produce such curved surface in the practical process was discussed and further perspective of the production system was described. (Edited author abstract) 6 Refs.

Evaluation of Contact Pressure in Bending under Tension Test by a Pressure Sensitive Film

The contact pressure acting on the sheet/tools interface has been studied because of growing the concern about the wear of tools. Recent studies make use of numerical simulation software to evaluate and correlate this pressure with the friction and wear generated. Since there are many studies that determine the coefficient of friction in sheet metal forming by bending under tension (BUT) test, the contact pressure between the pin and the sheet was measured using a film that has the ability to record the applied pressure. The vertical force applied to pin was also measured. The results indicate that the vertical force is more accurate to set the contact pressure that using equations predetermined. It was also observed that the contact area between the sheet and the pin is always smaller than the area calculated geometrically. The friction coefficient was determined for the BUT test through several equations proposed by various authors in order to check if there is much variation between the results. It was observed that the friction coefficient showed little variation for each equation, and each one can be used. The material used was the commercially pure aluminum, alloy Al1100.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR LASER BENDING OF SHEET METAL

The new flexible forming technique of sheet metal laser bending process is numerically simulated by using finite element method of large elastic plastic deformation. The temperature fields and stress strain distribution in deformation area are calculated, forming process is described and relationship between bend angle and width of sheet is discussed. It is shown that the calculated values are in good accordance with the experiments.

Thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC precision bending based on finite element simulation

Elongation and springback are the bottleneck problems of thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC precision bending. So thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC precision bending based on finite element simulation is put forward. The finite element model of thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC bending is established based on the DYNAFORM platform. The process of thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC precision bending is simulated with the model and the elongation and springback of tube bending can be gained. A new method of measuring the elongation of thin-walled tube NC precision bending named 'pressure die measuring method' is put forward and the computing equations of bending angle, bending radius, blanking length and initial bending section based on elongation and springback angle are derived. The bending angle, bending radius, blanking length and initial bending section of tube bending can be gained with these equations based on the elongation and springback angle from the simulation. The study can be used to control the quality of thin-walled aluminum alloy tube NC bending so that precision bending without redundance can be realized.