Formability and strengthening mechanism of AA6061 tubular components under solid granule medium internal high pressure forming

A new technological process of tube forming was developed, namely solution treatment → granule medium internal high pressure forming → artificial aging. During this process, the mechanical properties of AA6061 tube can be adjusted by heat treatment to satisfy the process requirements and the processing method can also be realized by granule medium internal high pressure forming technology with the features of convenient implementation, low requirement to equipment and flexible design in product. Results show that, at a solution temperature of 560 ℃ and time of 120 min, the elongation of AA6061 increases by 313%, but the strength and the hardness dramatically decrease. At an aging temperature of 180 ℃ and time of 360 min, the strength and hardness of AA6061 alloy are recovered to the values of the as-received alloy. The maximum expansion ratio（MER） of AA6061 tube increases by 25.5% and the material properties of formed tube reach the performances of raw material.

Fundamentals and Processes of Fluid Pressure Forming Technology for Complex Thin-Walled Components

A new generation of fluid pressure forming technology has been developed for the three typical structures of tubes,sheets,and shells,and hard-to-deform material components that are urgently needed for aerospace,aircraft,automobile,and high-speed train industries.in this paper,an over all review is introduced on the state of the art in fundamentals and processes for lower-pressure hydroforming of tubular components,double-sided pressure hydroforming of sheet components,die-less hydroforming of ellipsoidai shells,and dual hardening hot medium forming af hard-to-deform materiais Particular attention is paid to deformation behavior,stress state adjustment,defect prevention,and typical applications.In addition,future development directions of fluid pressure forming technology are discussed,including hyper lower-loading forming for ultra-large non-uniform components,precision for ming for intermetallic compound and high-entropy alloy components,intelligent process and equipment,and precise finite element simulation of inhomogeneous and strong anisotropic thin shells.

Finite element analysis of stiffness and static dent resistance of aluminum alloy double-curved panel in viscous pressure forming

The static dent resistance performance of the aluminum alloy double-curved panel formed using viscous pressure forming (VPF)was studied by finite element analysis,which mainly considers the forming process conditions.The whole simulation consisting of three stages,i.e.,forming,spring-back and static dent resistance,was carried out continuously using the finite element code ANSYS.The influence of blank holder pressure(BHP)and the drawbead on the stiffness and the static dent resistance of the panels formed using VPF was analyzed.The results show that the adequate setting of the drawbead can increase the plastic deformation of the double-curved panel,which is beneficial to the initial stiffness and the static dent resistance.There is an optimum BHP range for the stiffness and the static dent resistance.

External Pressure Forming and Buckling Analysis of Tubular Parts with Ribs

Buckling and forming processes of tubes with varying slenderness ratio （ratio of length to diameter） under external hydraulic pressure were analyzed with three-dimensional finite element method （FEM） for studying tube external pressure forming （EPF）. Buckling pressures for different tube blanks without mandrel were predicted, and an EPF of a carbon steel tube onto a mandrel with six ribs was simulated. Both thickness distribution and buckling pressure from the simulations were found to be in agreement with those from experiments. Buckling pressures are shown to be a function of the slenderness ratio. The tubular part with six ribs produced by EPF has a uniform thickness distribution, whose maximum thinning rate is only 5.9%.

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.

Influence of Axial Feeding on Hydroforming of Aluminum Alloy Tubular Part with Rectangular Section

The hydroforming experiment of aluminum tubular part with rectangular section was carried out to investigate influence of axial feeding on thickness distribution and calibration pressure of the corner.Thickness distribution and relation between corner radius and internal pressure were analyzed.The influence of lubricant was discussed.Microstructure and hardness of different region were observed.It is shown that thickness reduction in the transition region between the corner and center region is the biggest.Friction condition has influence both on the thickness distribution and calibration pressure of the corner.As the increase of the axial feeding,the calibration pressure is decreased.There is only little change for the microstructure,but the hardness is increased by 23.3% for the transition region.

High-efficiency forming processes for complex thin-walled titanium alloys components: state-of-the-art and perspectives

Complex thin-walled titanium alloy components play a key role in the aircraft,aerospace and marine industries,offering the advantages of reduced weight and increased thermal resistance.The geometrical complexity,dimensional accuracy and in-service properties are essential to fulfill the high-performance standards required in new transportation systems,which brings new challenges to titanium alloy forming technologies.Traditional forming processes,such as superplastic forming or hot pressing,cannot meet all demands of modern applications due to their limited properties,low productivity and high cost.This has encouraged industry and research groups to develop novel high-efficiency forming processes.Hot gas pressure forming and hot stamping-quenching technologies have been developed for the manufacture of tubular and panel components,and are believed to be the cut-edge processes guaranteeing dimensional accuracy,microstructure and mechanical properties.This article intends to provide a critical review of high-efficiency titanium alloy forming processes,concentrating on latest investigations of controlling dimensional accuracy,microstructure and properties.The advantages and limitations of individual forming process are comprehensively analyzed,through which,future research trends of high-efficiency forming are identified including trends in process integration,processing window design,full cycle and multi-objective optimization.This review aims to provide a guide for researchers and process designers on the manufacture of thin-walled titanium alloy components whilst achieving high dimensional accuracy and satisfying performance properties with high efficiency and low cost.

Effect of aluminum particle on properties of viscous medium during warm viscous pressure bulging

Incorporating aluminum particles into viscous medium was proposed to improve the thermal conductivity of the viscous medium and the efficiency of warm viscous pressure forming(WVPF)process.The influence of aluminum particles on a viscous medium was investigated through settling,thermal conductivity,and compression experiments.Warm viscous pressure bulging(WVPB)experiments were conducted on polyetherimide(PEI)and AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets to determine the influence of the aluminum particles size and fraction on the forming efficiency and formed specimens based on the heating preparation times and profile curves,wall thicknesses and surface roughness values of the bulging specimens.The results show that the thermal conductivity of the viscous medium and the WVPF efficiency can be greatly improved via the addition aluminum particles with appropriate size and fraction under certain temperature condition,but have less influence on other properties of viscous medium.

Effect of wrinkles on formability in hydroforming a double-diameter aluminum alloy tubular part

An experiment was conducted on hydroforming a double-diameter aluminum alloy tubular part.The influence of loading paths,i.e.the relation between internal pressure and axial feeding,on the forming results was emphasized with fixed total axial feeding length.The loading paths were analyzed together with the corresponding diagram of stress and strain.Two kinds of bursting phenomenon occurred in the experiment.Sound part can be formed whether there are wrinkles or not.It is indicated by the experiment results that the loading path has great effect on the distribution of material during axial feeding.The thickness distribution is more even for the part formed with wrinkles than that without wrinkles.

The Initial Tangent of the Femoral Arterial Pressure Increase Is an Estimate of Left Ventricular Contractility in Patients Undergoing Cardiacsurgery

Purpose: Assessment of contractile function is a major challenge in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, especially during cardiac surgery. The initial tangent of the femoral arterial pressure increase (tanin) has recently been described to be an estimate of left ventricular (LV) contractility. To confirm these findings tanin was compared to various indices of LV performance in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods: Data from 17 patients were evaluated retrospectively. Myocardial performance was estimated by the echocardiographic indices ejection fraction (EF), shortening fraction (FS), circumferential fiber shortening velocity (Vcf), the parameters of pulse contour analysis area under the curve (AUC) and tanin. Measurements were taken before and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Results: Tanin increased significantly (813 ± 216 mmHg/s vs. 1490 ± 450 mmHg/s, p < 0.05) after CPB, as well as Vcf (0.89 ± 0.14 circ/s vs. 1.47 ± 0.27 circ/s, p < 0.05) and EF (65% ± 7% vs. 74% ± 6%, p < 0.05). FS did not change (40.7% ± 7% vs. 46.5% ± 5%, p = 0.30). AUC significantly dropped after CPB (435 ± 54 mmHg*s vs. 263 ± 27 mmHg*s). Tanin and Vcf correlated strongly (r = 0.70, p < 0.001), while tanin showed only weak correlation with EF (r = 0.36, p = 0.037). There was no significant correlation with FS (r = 0.31, p = 0.079). Tanin and AUC correlated inversely (r = -0.62, p < 0.001). Conclusions: While showing little or no correlation with EF and FS respectively, tanin correlated well with the less preload-dependent parameter Vcf, thus suggesting that tanin may be used as an easily accessible estimate of LV contractility during cardiac surgery.

Influence of Forming Pressure on Properties of Yttrium Iron Garnet Ferrite

The Ca-Sn co-substituted yttrium iron garnet(YIG)ferrite materials were prepared by the traditional oxide solid-state reaction method,and the influence of forming pressure on the density,morphology and magnetic properties of YIG ferrite was systematically studied.The results show that the density of YIG ferrite green body increases with the increase of the forming pressure,while the density of its sintered body shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing.At the same time,the ferromagnetic resonance(FMR)linewidth of YIG sample first decreases and then increases.Meanwhile,the effects of forming pressure on the saturation magnetization,remanence and coercivity of the sample can be ignored.This study proves that the density and FMR linewidth of YIG materials can be controlled by regulating the forming pressure and the best performance is obtained for the sample prepared under a forming pressure of 5 MPa.

Mathematic Model and Analytic Solution for a Cylinder Subject to Exponential Function

Hollow cylinders are widely used in spacecraft, rockets, weapons, metallurgy, materials, and mechanical manufacturing industries, and so on, hydraulic bulging roll cylinder and hydraulic press work all belong to hollow cylinders. However, up till now, the solution of the cylinder subjected to the pressures in the three-dimensional space is still at the stage of the analytical solution to the normal pressure or the approximate solution to the variable pressure by numerical method. The analytical solution to the variable pressure of the cylinder has not yet made any breakthrough in theory and can not meet accurate theoretical analysis and calculation requirements of the cylindrical in Engineering. In view of their importance, the precision calculation and theoretical analysis are required to investigate on engineering. A stress function which meets both the biharmonic equations and boundary conditions is constructed in the three-dimensional space. Furthermore, the analytic solution of a hollow cylinder subjected to exponential function distributed variable pressure on its inner and outer surfaces is deduced. By controlling the pressure subject to exponential function distributed variable pressure in the hydraulic bulging roller without any rolling load, using a static tester to record the strain supported hydraulic bulging roll, and comparing with the theoretical calculation, the experimental test result has a higher degree of agreement with the theoretical calculation. Simultaneously, the famous Lam6 solution can be deduced when given the unlimited length of cylinder along the axis. The analytic solution paves the way for the mathematic building and solution of hollow cylinder with randomly uneven pressure.

SECTIONAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF COUPLED DEFORMATION BETWEEN ELASTOPLASTIC SHEET METAL AND VISCO-ELASTOPLASTIC BODY

The present paper is devoted to developing a new numerical simulation method for the analysis of viscous pressure forming （VPF）, which is a sheet flexible-die forming （FDF） process. The pressure-carrying medium used in VPF is one kind of semisolid, flowable and viscous material and its deformation behavior can be described by the visco-elastoplastic constitutive model. A sectional finite element model for the coupled deformation analysis between the viscoelastoplastic pressure-carrying medium and the elastoplastic sheet metal is proposed. The resolution of the Updated Lagrangian （UL） formulation is based on a static explicit approach. The frictional contact between sheet metal and visco-elastoplastic pressure-carrying medium is treated by the penalty function method. Coupled deformation between sheet metal and visco-elastoplastic pressure-carrying medium with large slip is analyzed to validate the developed algorithm. Finally, the viscous pressure bulging （VPB） process of DC06 sheet metal is simulated. Good agreement between numerical simulation results and experimental measurements shows the validity of the developed algorithm.