Optimum Die Design for Single Pass Steel Tube Drawing with Large Strain Deformation

Abstract

A steel tube drawing process is a forming method to reduce the tube dimensions, such as outer and inner diameters, and improve the surface quality simultaneously. The profiles of drawing die orifice and the mandrel are key factors to achieve the requirements of tube geometric precision and the surface roughness. The smooth material flow results in a smaller drawing force requirement obviously. While the strain distribution through the direction of tube thickness controls the service quality of tube due to release of the residual stress. In this paper, optimum drawing die profile designs were proposed using arc and Bezier curves, respectively. Design parameters of acr-type and Bezier curve-type drawing dies are studied using design of experiment method. CAE simulations were adopted to predict the maximum drawing forces and the mean effective strain deviation along the tube thickness direction. The normalized drawing force and strain deviation were adopted for the cost function calculation. The confirmation test of Taguchi Method showed the optimum designs are reasonable. The experimental results were carried out and verified the proposed designs are feasible.