Investigation of the Geometry of Rectangular Cross Section Aluminum Parts in Low Pressure Tube Hydroforming Process

Abstract

Tube hydroforming process is used for producing thin integrated tubular parts with different cross sections. In this paper, production of aluminum tube parts with a rectangular cross section using low-pressure hydroforming process has been investigated numerically and experimentally. In order to achieve the lowest geometric defect of the part with minimum corner radius, the low-pressure hydroforming has been simulated and the effect of different loading curves on the deformation has been studied. The obtained numerical results indicate a good agreement with the experimental results. According to the results, the ratio of internal pressure variation to the movement of the upper die has a large effect on the cross-sectional profiles of the final part. The lowest corner radius also is formed when a high internal pressure applies on the internal surface of the tube before moving down the upper die.