Buckling and springback behavior in hydro-pressing of thin-walled 5A06 aluminum alloy tubular component.

Buckling and springback defects are easily produced on the thin-walled aluminum alloy tubular components during the tube hydro-pressing process. In this paper, the cross-sectional buckling and springback behavior of the thin-walled 5A06 aluminum alloy tube blanks with D/t = 81.6 during the tube hydro-pressing process using a die with middle parting structure were researched by the experiment and numerical simulation. The effect of the internal pressure loading path on the cross-sectional shape and size of the tubular component was first discussed. Then, the buckling and springback mechanisms of the cross-section were revealed during the tube hydro-pressing process. The cross-sectional dimension deviation of the tubular components obtained under a constant internal pressure of 0.15ps (ps is the initial yield internal pressure of the tube blank) or a stepwise increasing internal pressure from 0 to 1.00ps with the upper die movement is lower than that under the constant internal pressures of 0.25ps and 0.50ps. The large bending deformation that occurs on the edge of the unsupported area will lead to buckling defect. Moreover, the deformation behavior of the straight wall is affected by the bending moment in the corner during the unloading process. On the one hand, a concave deformation happens on the straight wall during the unloading process of internal pressure. On the other hand, the concave cross-section will spring back outward in the process of die opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]