• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.42-45
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• 2008

Recently, aluminum is widely used to reduce the vehicle weight. Aluminum curved extruded products are used for the design of automotive frame parts. This study focuses on the determination of process condition fur automotive bumper beam with various curvatures. In this study, a curvature prediction model has been proposed considering the geometric relationship and the characteristic of the curvature extrusion equipment. Using the proposed model and FE analysis, the appropriated process condition was determined to produce the bumper beam. Finally, curvature extrusion experiment was carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed curvature prediction model and the process condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2009

In the automotive industry, aluminum is widely used to reduce the vehicle weight. Aluminum curved extruded components are used for the design of frame parts. This study investigates the curvature extrusion process to produce the aluminum curved suspension arm. In the curvature extrusion process, the bending process is simultaneously carried out with the extrusion process. Firstly, porthole extrusion was investigated by using FE analysis to produce aluminum suspension arm. And then the bending process condition was determined to produce the final suspension arm with the required curvature. In this research, the guide roll movement causes the bending of extruded product. The moving distance and velocity of guide roll were controlled to meet the required curvature of suspension arm. Finally, the curved suspension arm was manufactured by the curvature extrusion experiment under the proposed curvature extrusion condition.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.502-507
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• 2009

Curvature extrusion process has several advantages in comparison to the conventional extrusion and bending process. In the curvature extrusion, the extruded part is directly bent during extrusion. Therefore, it does not need additional bending process after extrusion. In the curvature extrusion process, it is possible to produce curved extruded products that have a constant or various curvatures. It is essential that we predict the curvatures of the extruded product to meet the required curvatures. This paper proposed a theoretical model that can predict the curvature of extruded product produced by the curvature extrusion process. Using the proposed model the movement of guide tool that causes the bending of extruded product was controlled to produce the required curved automotive Al bumper back beam. The effectiveness of the proposed prediction model and the movement of guide tool were verified by the FE analysis and curved extrusion experiment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.327-332
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• 2008

The effectiveness of vehicle parts made through extrusion is in the limelight because of the advantages of high strength stiffness materials can be produced and the number of processes can be drastically reduced. Therefore, the parts should have sufficient stiffness and be lightweight enough to improve fuel efficiency. However, the application of extruded aluminum requires pre-bending technologies that can manufacture the complex designs profiles demanded by vehicle parts. The aim of this research is that the development of the variable curvature extrusion technology that can produce a variety of curvature. In order to produce a variable curvature, the guide transfer speed and transfer time should be controlled properly. The guide transfer speed and transfer time were examined by the theoretical analysis. A model was developed to simulate the deformation behaviors of extrusion and bending process from the symmetric bumper with range of radii from 1863mm to 2163mm. The theoretical analysis and FE analysis were verified through experimental method.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.555-560
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• 2007

This paper shows some achievements at bending of extruded aluminum profiles during the extrusion process. The conventional process for the production of bent profiles involves a successive extrusion, stretching, and bending of the profiles. Conventional bending methods can not meet demands far precision and cost-effective production in some cases, due to cross sectional deformation, irregular decrease of tube wall thickness and a complication of the process design. An estimation of spring-back required for precision of the bending radius can not always be achieved by the over bending of the profile. Since the profile is hot during the bending process, the spring-back phenomenon can be avoided. This means that an additional bending process is not necessary. Consequently, flexible bending can be achieved with cost reduction and quality improvement. Experimental tests were completed to study the relationship between curvature radius of profile and position of guide on the extrusion for vehicle bumper. A7108 is applied as a billet material in order to increase strength. The overall correlation between the experimental and numerical results is good. It is therefore concluded that the present method provides an efficient means for the constant curvature extrusion process.