• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.254-257
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• 2007

In this study, hydroformability and mechanical properties of pre- and post- heat treated Al6061 tubes at different extrusion type were investigated. For the investigation, as-extruded, full annealed and T6-treated Al 6061 tubes at different extrusion type were prepared. To evaluate the hydroformability, uni-axial tensile test and free bulge test were performed at room temperature and $200^{\circ}C$. Also mechanical properties of hydroformed part at various pre- and post-heat treatments were estimated by tensile test. And the tensile test specimens were obtained from hexagonal prototype hydroformed tube at $200^{\circ}C$. As for the heat treatment, hydroformability of full annealed tube is 25% higher than that of extruded tube. The tensile strength and elongation were more than 330MPa and 12%, respectively, when hydroformed part was post-T6 treated after hydroforming of pre- full annealed tube. However, hydroformed part using T6 pre treated tube represents high strength and low elongation, 8%. Therefore, the T6 treatment after hydroforming for as-extruded tube is cost-effective. Hydroformability of Al6061 tube showed similar value for both extrusion types. But flow stress of seam tube showed $20{\sim}50MPa$ lower value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.132-135
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• 2007

In this study, hydroformability and mechanical properties of pre- and post- heat treated Al6061 tubes at different extrusion type were investigated. For the investigation, as-extruded, full annealed and T6-treated Al6061 tubes at different extrusion type were prepared. To evaluate the hydroformability, uni-axial tensile test and free bulge test were performed at room temperature and $250^{\circ}C$. Also mechanical properties of hydroformed part at various pre- and post-heat treatments were estimated by tensile test. And the tensile test specimens were obtained from hexagonal prototype hydroformed tube at $250^{\circ}C$. As for the heat treatment, hydroformability of full annealed tube is 25% higher than that of extruded tube. The tensile strength and elongation were more than 330MPa and 12%, respectively, when hydroformed part was post-T6 treated after hydroforming of pre- full annealed tube. However, hydroformed part using T6 pre treated tube represents high strength and low elongation, 8%. Therefore, the T6 treatment after hydroforming for as-extruded tube is cost-effective. Hydroformability of Al6061 tube showed similar value for both extrusion types. But flow stress of seam tube showed $20{\sim}50MPa$ lower value.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2007

Effect of heat treatment conditions on formability and property of warm hydroformed parts for Al 6061 extruded tubes was investigated in this study. For the investigation, as-extruded, fully annealed and T6-treated Al 6061 seamless tubes were prepared. To evaluate the warm hydroformability, uni-axial tensile test and free bulge test were performed at various pre- and post-heat treatment conditions. And the tensile test specimens were obtained from hexagonal prototype hydroformed parts at $250^{\circ}C$. As a result, hydroformability of fully annealed tube is 25% higher than that of extruded tube. The tensile strength and strain of hydroformed part reach to 330 MPa and 12%, respectively, when the part was T6 treated after warm hydroforming. However, the hydroformability of T6 pre-treated tube is relatively low due to the decreased elongation, 8%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.198-201
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• 2004

Aluminum alloys have high potential for weight reduction in automotive and other applications. But aluminum alloys have relatively low tubular hydroformability which can be enhanced by conducting the hydroforming at elevated temperatures. Hot working processes are commonly used in bulk forming such as forging and rolling, but still is rare in sheet metal forming like hydroforming. In this study hydroforming test at elevated temperatures is performed by special designed induction heating system to investigate the hydroformability of aluminum alloys. The high temperature formability characteristrics are obtained by 1?fitting forming test and circular bulging test and the effects of the process parameters such as feeding amount, internal pressure and temperatures on the tubular forming limits are mainly investigated.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.2 s.83
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• pp.138-142
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• 2006

A tube hydroformability testing system was designed and manufactured to observe the forming steps and to provide arbitrary combination of internal pressure and axial fred. The forming limit diagram of an aluminum tube was obtained from the free bulge test and the T-shape forming test using this system, giving the criteria for predicting failure in the hydroforming process. The hydroformability of aluminum tube according to different conditions of a prebending process was discussed, based on the finite element analysis and the forming limit test. The effects of 2D and 3D pretending on the tube hydroforming process of an automotive trailing arm were evaluated and compared with each other.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.243-246
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• 2005

A tube hydroformability testing system was designed and manufactured to observe the forming steps and to provide arbitrary combination of internal pressure and axial feed. The forming limit diagram of an aluminum tube was obtained from the free bulge test and the T-shape forming test using this system, giving the criteria for predicting failure in the hydroforming process. The hydroformability of aluminum tube according to different conditions of a prebending process was discussed, based on the finite element analysis and the forming limit test. The effects of 2D and 3D prebending on the tube hydroforming process of an automotive failing arm were evaluated and compared with each other.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.146-150
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• 2004

Because of the social needs for energy saving and the rigid environmental regulation, the development of light materials and new economical manufacturing technologies have been actively investigated. Recently, the hydroforming of high strength aluminum tube has attracted great interest due to its good strength-to-weight ratio, which could play an important role in lightweighting of automobile. However, the limited formability of high strength aluminum alloys is considered to hinder the active application of the hydroforming process. In this paper, the hydroformability of aluminum tubes with different heat treatments was investigated as the basic research of the hydroforming process for the high strength aluminum tubes.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.604-614
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• 2000

In this paper, the mechanical characteristics and fundamental mechanism of a roll-formed tube during the hydroforming process are investigated in order to obtain the ewly localization of the tube hydroforming skills which are the core production techniques for the super light weight and high safety of the car body. Also, the theoretical influences of the material variables and the processes on the formability in the tube hydroforming are studied. In addition, the techniques to evaluate the forming limit of the bulging process of a tube are developed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.277-280
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• 2006

The hydroformability of aluminum alloy sheets at elevated temperatures have been investigated in this study. It is necessary to analyze the variations of the mechanical properties that depend on the forming temperature and the heat conduction during warm hydroforming. Therefore, in this study a coupled simulation of plastic deformation and temperature distribution in the warm hydroforming process is performed and compared with experimental data. The multi-purpose code DEFORM-2D can handle this type of calculations but it takes high computation time if contact heat transfer between die, tube and pressure medium occurs. Experiments were conducted by high temperature tribometer(pin-on-disk) allowing measuring the friction coefficients of the aluminum alloys at several temperatures and these results are applied to the coupled simulation by which the optimal process parameters such as internal pressure and preset temperature on hydroformability can be determined. The comparison of the FE analysis with the experimental results has shown that hydroformability given by bulge height, and temperature distribution of the tube specimen make a little difference with the FE results but the trend predicted by simulation agrees well with experiments.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1010-1015
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• 2008

In this study, the characteristics of aluminum tube hydroformed products at different extrusion type and heat treatment conditions were investigated. For the investigation, as-extruded, full annealed and T6-treated Al 6061 tubes at different extrusion type were prepared. To evaluate the hydroformability, free bulge test was performed at room temperature to $300^{\circ}C$. Also mechanical properties of hydroformed products at various pre- and post-heat treatments were estimated by hexagonal prototype hydroforming test at $250^{\circ}C$. And the tensile test specimens were obtained from hexagonal prototype hydroformed tube. As a results, hydroformability of full annealed tube is $5{\sim}8%$ higher than that of extruded and T6-treated tube. The tensile strength and elongation of T6-post heat treated indirect extrusion tube were more than 330MPa and 12%, respectively. However, T6 pre treated hydroformed product represents high strength, 330MPa and low elongation, 8%. Therefore, Hydroformability of Al6061 tube showed similar value for both extrusion types. However flow stress of direct tube showed $20{\sim}50MPa$ lower value than indirect tube.