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Hydroforming of a non-axisymmetric thin-walled tubular component with variable cross sections was analyzed. In order to solve the sealing problem which occurred due to the thin and non-axisymmetric shape, the use of a lead patch on the punch, which had been successful in hydroforming of thin tubes, was evaluated. A lead patch was attached to the punch to solve the sealing problem, which was caused by the stress gradient in the non-axisymmetric shape. FEM and experiments were also performed to analyze these sealing problems associated with the punch shape and non-axisymmetric shape. Finally, the lead patch was attached at tube surface where intensive local strain concentration would occur to enhance the hydroformability. These methods were successfully used to fabricate non-axisymmetric thin-walled tubular component with variable cross sections that had previously failed during traditional hydroforming. Key Words : Hydroforming, Thin-wall Tube, Non-axisymmetric Shape, Variable Cross Sections, Sealing Problem, Lead Patch

Bursting during tube hydroforming is preceded by localized necking. The retardation of the initiation of necking is a means to enhance hydroformability. Since high strain gradients occur at the necking sites, a decrease in local strain gradients is an effective way to retard the initiation of necking. In the current study, the expansion at potential necking sites was intentionally restricted in order to reduce the strain gradient at potential necking sites. From the strain distribution obtained from FEM, it is possible to determine strain concentrated zones, which are the potential necking sites. Prior to the hydroforming of a trailing arm, an incompressible material(such as lead) is attached to the tube where the strain-concentrated zone would contact the die. Due to the incompressibility of lead, the tube expansion is locally restricted, and the resultant strain extends to adjacent regions of the tube during hydroforming. After the first stage of hydroforming, the lead is removed from the tube, and the hydroforming continues to the final targeted shape without any local restriction. This method was successfully used to fabricate a complex shaped automotive trailing arm that had previously failed during traditional hydroforming fabrication.

Tube hydroforming is a technology that utilizes hydraulic pressure to form a tube into desired shapes inside die cavities. Due to its advantages, such as weight reduction, increased strength, improved quality, and reduced tooling cost, single-layered tube hydroforming is widely used in industry. However in some special applications, it is necessary to produce multi-layered tubular components which have corrosion resistance, thermal resistance, conductivity, and abrasion resistance. In this study, a hollow forming process to fabricate a part from multi-layered tubes for structural purposes is proposed. To accomplish a successful hydroforming process, an analytical model that predicts optimal load path for various parameters such as tube material properties, thickness of tubes, diameter of holes and the number of holes was developed. Tubular hydroforming experiments to fabricate a hollow part were performed and the optimal loading path developed by the analytical model was successfully verified. The results show that the proposed hydroforming process can effectively produce hollow parts with multi-layered tube without defects such as wrinkling or fracture.

The most important parameters in success of tube hydroforming process are internal pressure and axial force loading paths. Theoretical calculations and finite element trial-and-error simulations to find the optimum loading paths are so time-consuming and costly. In this paper, pressure and force loading paths in tube hydroforming process are investigated and optimized using Simulated Annealing optimization method. The final aim is to obtain the optimal loading paths for tube hydroforming of axisymmetric geometries under a failure criterion based on the maximum allowable thinning and von-Mises stress. Simulated Annealing algorithm is directly incorporated into the non-linear structural finite element code ANSYS/LS-DYNA to analyze the forming parameters. This novel approach is validated by experiments on ASTM C11000 copper tubes. The results are also compared and verified with another literature, in which a good correlation is obtained. Less thinning and better shape conformation is attained using the optimized parameters.

Hydroforming has attracted the attention of manufacturing industries for vehicles and transportation systems. A wide range of products such as subframes, camshafts, radiator frames, axles and crankshafts are made by the hydroforming process. Hydroformed parts often need to be structurally joined to other components during assembly. Therefore it is useful if the hydroformed automotive parts can be attached with a localized flange. In this study, a hydroforming process to produce a rectangular shape flange is proposed. FE analysis to form the flanged rectangular shape was performed by Dynaform 5.5. The hydroforming characteristics at various die aspect ratios and feeding conditions were analyzed and optimal process conditions which can avoid defects are suggested. For validation purposes, hydroforming experiments to form the flange were conducted with the optimized conditions. The results show that the flanged parts can be successfully formed with a hydroforming process without additional processing steps.

Double layered tube that has been used for transportation and oil piping system is occasionally exposed to elevated temperature. The change in stress state at elevated temperature is important for the safe design of double layered tube. In this study, the variation of stress state for hydroformed double layered tube of which inner tube is stainless steel and outer tube is mild steel has been analytically analyzed. To characterize the thermal stress at elevated temperature, analytical model to provide thermal stresses between outer tube and inner tube was developed by using theories of elasticity and Lame equation. The feasibility of analytical model is verified by finite element analysis using ANSYS CLASSIC TM , commercially available code. The variation of thermal stress at various thickness combination of inner and outer tube has also been investigated by proposed analytical model. Key Words : Double Layered Tube, Tube Hydroforming, Thermal Stress, Coefficient of Linear Expansion

Hydroforming is the technology that utilizes hydraulic pressure to form tube or sheet materials into desired shapes inside die cavities. Tube hydroforming provides a number of advantages over the conventional stamping process, including fewer secondary operations, weight reduction, assembly simplification, adaptability to forming of complex structural components and improved structural strength. In many case, hydroformed parts have to be structurally joined at some point. Therefore it is useful if the hydroformed automotive parts can be given a localized attachment flange. In this study for the numerical process design FE analysis was performed with DYNAFORM 5.5. Die parting angle and circumferential expansion ratio was optimized. With optimized condition, bulge and hydroforming experiments to form flange were performed. Forming characteristic at various pressure conditions was analyzed and optimized internal pressure condition was evaluated. The results show that flanged parts can be successfully produced by tube hydroforming process.

Hydroforming has attracted a great deal of attention in the manufacturing industries for vehicles and transportation systems. Hydroforming technology contributes to weight reduction, increased strength, improved quality and reduced tooling cost. Hydroformed automotive parts used as structure components in vehichle body frame often have to be structurally joined at some point. Therefore it is useful if the hydroformed automotive parts can be given a localized attachment flange. For a given flange shape, a parting plane for the dies is established relative to which the various surfaces of the flange shape, in cross section, have no significant reverse curvature. In this study, hydroforming process for flange forming was proposed. FE analysis to form flanged circular shape and flanged rectangular shape was preformed with Dynaform 5.5. To accomplish successful hydroforming process design, thorough investigation on proper combination of process parameters such as tool geometry and hydraulic pressure has been performed and optimized. The results show that flanged automotive parts can be successfully produced with tube hydroforming.

Strain hardening behavior during hydroforming has been experimentally investigated. The variation of flow stress was used as an index of strain hardening during respective processes and the flow stress was estimated from the correlationship between flow stress and effective strain. The local hardness after hydroformig was also predicted by effective strain. By using the inter-relationships between hardness-flow stress-effective strain at variable pre-strains, the strain hardening behavior during hydroforming has been successfully analyzed. The comparison of predicted hardness with measured hardness confirmed that the methodology used in this study was feasible and the strain hardening behavior can be quantitatively estimated.

Hydroformability and fracture criteria of FE analysis based on ductile fracture were investigated in warm hydroforming of A16061 tube. To evaluate the hydroformability, uni-axial tensile test and bulge test were performed at room temperature and . The measured flow stresses were used as input parameters for FE analysis. The damage values were calculated by FE analysis based on ductile fracture criteria at maximum radius of free bulged tubes. Damage values were compared of hexagonal shaped hydroformed parts. As a result, the formability by critical damage value for extruded tube is lower than that of full annealed tube up to 0.5.