Study on the Influence of Pre-bending in an Aluminum Tube Hydroforming

알루미늄 튜브 하이드로포밍에서의 예비 굽힘 공정의 효과에 관한 연구

Recently social demands of fuel economy and environmental regulations require the development of lightweight components and new manufacturing technologies. The aluminum tube hydroforming is a manufacturing process which can provide lightweight components as automotive parts. In this paper, the hydroformability of aluminium tube in different condition of bending process is presented. An investigation has been conducted on how to control the deformed shape and its effect on thinning distribution after hydroforming by using finite element simulation. Finite element simulation of tube hydroforming for automotive trailing arm is carried out to explore the effect of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional bending.