• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.55-58
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• 2008

Hydroforming is a forming technology in which a steel tube is set in a die and formed to fit a specified shape by applying hydraulic pressure from inside the tube while also applying force in the tube axial direction (axial feed). In present study, the entire design process chain for an automotive cross-member was simulated and developed using hydroforming technology on high-strength steel. The part design stage required a feasibility study. The process was designed using computer-aided design techniques to confirm the actual hydroformability of the part in detail. The possibility of using hydroformable cross-member parts was examined using cross-sectional analyses, which were essential to ensure the formability of the tube material for each forming step, including pre-bending and hydroforming. The die design stage included all the components of a prototyping tool. Press interference was investigated in terms of geometry and thinning.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제31권8호
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• pp.833-838
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• 2007

In tube hydroforming process, several defective products could be obtained such as bursting, wrinkling, folding, buckling. Because, especially, bursting is most frequently occurred failure among the well known failures, it is mostly important to predict the onset of bursting failure on tube hydroforming process. For most sheet metal forming processes, strain based forming limit diagram(FLD) is used often as a criteria to estimate the possibility of onset of the failures proposed above. However, FLD has a shortcoming that it is dependent on strain path while stress based diagram is independent on strain history. Generally, tube hydroforming consists of three main processes such as pre-bending, pre-forming, and hydroforming and it means that the strain histories of final products are nonlinear. Therefore, forming limit stress diagram(FLSD) is more suitable to predict forming limit for hydroforming parts. In this study, FLSD is applied to estimate bursting failure for an engine cradle of an automobile part. Consequently, it is proved that application of FLSD to predict forming limit is available for tube hydroforming parts.

• 소성∙가공
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.52-58
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• 2008

Tube hydroforming process is generally consisted with pre-bending, preforming and hydroforming processes. Among forming defects which may occur in tube hydroforming such as buckling, wrinkling and bursting, the wrinkling and bursting by local instability under excessive tensile stress mode were mainly caused by thinning phenomenon in the manufacturing process. Thus the accurate prediction and suitable evaluation of the thinning phenomenon play an important role in designing and producing the successfully hydroformed parts without any failures. In this work, the formability on hydroformed part for automobile, i.e. engine cradle, was evaluated using finite element analysis. The initial tube radius, loading path with axial feeding force and internal pressure, and preformed configuration after preforming process were considered as the dominant process parameters in total tube hydroforming process. The effects on these process parameters could be confirmed through the numerical experiments with respect to several kinds of finite element simulation conditions. The degree of enhancement on formability with each process parameters such as initial tube radius, loading path and preform configuration were also compared. Therefore, it is noted that the evaluation approach of the formability on hydroformed parts for lots of industrial fields proposed in this study will provide one of feasible methods to satisfy the increasing practical demands for the improvement of the formability in tube hydroforming processes.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.45-49
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• 2010

The automotive industry has shown a growing interest in tube hydroforming during the past years. The advantages of hydroforming (less thinning, a more efficient manufacturing process, etc.) can, for instance, be combined with the high strength of extra high strength steels, which are usually less formable, to produce structural automotive components which exhibit lower weight and improved service performance. Design and production of tubular components require knowledge about tube material and forming behavior during hydroforming and how the hydroforming operation itself should be controlled. These issues are studied analytically in the present paper. In this study, the whole process of rear sub-frame parts development by tube hydroforming using AA6061 material is presented. At the part design stage, it requires feasibility study and process design aided by CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) to confirm hydroformability in details. Effects of parameters such as internal pressure, axial feeding and geometry shape in automotive rear sub-frame by hydroforming process were carefully investigated. Overall possibility of hydroformable rear sub-frame parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. Moreover, it is essential to ensure the formability of tube material on every forming step such as pre-bending and hydroforming. In addition, all the components of prototyping tool are designed and interference with press is examined from the point of geometry and thinning.

• 한국소성가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소성가공학회 2008년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.325-328
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• 2008

In recent years, developments of light weight vehicle are one of the most important issues in automotive industry. It is important to know the variations of the mechanical properties in the hydro forming process for the safe and durable design purposes. Generally, tube hydroforming process consists of three main processes such as bending, preforming, and hydroforming. It means that the strain hardening histories of final products are nonlinear. In this study, strain hardening behavior during hydroforming has been investigated by hydroforming of engine cradle as a model process. The variation of mechanical properties such as local hardness and strength were used as an index of strain hardening during respective processes. The correlationship between strength and hardness obtained from tensile test has been equivalently converted into correlation between hardness and measured strain.

• 한국소성가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소성가공학회 2001년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.54-58
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• 2001

In recent years, hydroforming technology has been one of the most important technology in automotive industry in the points of weight saving, cost reduction and qualify improvement. However, compared with traditional metal forming technology, hydroforming has much fewer information in experience and empirical knowledge. But we don't have my sufficient time and money to produce hydroforming products using real blank directly Therefore Simulation is essential in hydrofonrung technology development. In this paper, we simulate the side member as the tubular hydroforming technology. The manufacturing process of side member' consists of pre_bending, pre_forming, and hydroforming of a thin tube. Variables such as internal pressure, end feeding, and tool geometry are optimized to improve the forming safety. And we simulate side member according to several lubricant conditions. from those simulations, we find that strain distributions can be reduced well by internal pressure and end feeding control, and lubrication is the most important thing in hydroforming process.

• 한국소성가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소성가공학회 2003년도 추계학술대회논문집
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• pp.241-244
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• 2003

The productivity of hydroforming process can be increased by combining pre-forming process and post-forming process such as the bending, piercing and the embedding process. Therefore in this study, integrated studies on the hydro-embedding technology have been performed by analyzing the deformed mode of the tubes and the optimal process parameters. In the case of the embedding test the characteristics of the embedded parts, such as the shape of the screw tip, screw thread and shape of thread were investigated at various process conditions. To measure the clamping force between the embedded part and the tube, special measuring device was used.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.38-43
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• 2008

The hydroforming technology has been spreaded dramatically in automotive industry last 10 years. Itmay cause many advantages to automotive applications in terms of better structural integrity of the parts, lower cost from fewer part count, material saving, weight reduction, lower springback, improved strength and durability and design flexibility. In this study, the whole process of rear sub-frame parts development by tube hydroforming using steel material having tensile strength of 440MPa grade is presented. At the part design stage, it requires feasibility study and process design aided by CAE (Computer Aided Design) to confirm hydroformability in details. Effects of parameters such as internal pressure, axial feeding and geometry shape in automotive rear sub-frame by hydroforming process were carefully investigated. Overall possibility of hydroformable sub-frame parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. Moreover, it is essential to ensure the formability of tube material on every forming step such as pre-bending, preforming and hydroforming. In addition, all the components of prototyping tool are designed and interference with press is examined from the point of geometry and thinning.

• 소성∙가공
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• 제14권9호통권81호
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• pp.756-763
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• 2005

The applicability and productivity of hydroforming process can be increased by combining pre- and post-forming processes such as the bending, piercing and embedding process. For the fabrication of automotive parts, the hollow bodies with connecting nuts are widely used to connect parts together. Hollow body with connecting nuts has been conventionally fabricated by welding nuts or screwing in autobody screws. It requires multiple steps and devices fur the welding and/or screwing Therefore in this study, hydro-embedding process that combines the hydraulic embedding of connecting element(nut) with hydroforming process is investigated. Studies on the hydro-embedding technology have been performed to optimize the shape of the connecting element by analyzing the deformed mode of the embedded tube The effects of the shape of the screw tip, screw thread and shape of thread on the connection force between the tube and the connecting element have been investigated to optimize the shape of connecting element. Finite element analysis has also been performed to provide deformation behaviors of the tube surrounding a hole produced by hydro-embedding.

• 한국소성가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소성가공학회 2004년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.206-209
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• 2004

In the hydroforming process the number of process can be reduced by combining pre-forming process and post-forming process such as the bending, piercing and the embedding process. Integrated studies on the embedding manufacturing technology have been performed by analyzing the deformed mode of the tubes and the optimal process parameters. In this study, a simulation model that can prove clamping force between the clamping element and tube has been investigated by FEM. The characteristics of the embedded parts, such as the shape of the screw tip, screw thread and shape of thread were investigated at various clamping element conditions.