• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.202-205
• /
• 2009

Tubular torsion beam of high strength steel is going about in an automotive rear axle due to the advantages of light weight and efficient rear packaging capability. High strength tubular beam can be manufactured by the hydroforming in order to ensure dimensional accuracy, while a conventional stamping has been used for steel tubular beam. Internal pressure, feeding and their combination are the key factors of controlling the process. Based on the numerical simulation and try-outs, the optimized hydroforming process conditions for the high strength tubular beam were suggested.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.368-374
• /
• 2015

Hydroforming of a non-axisymmetric thin-walled tubular component with variable cross sections was analyzed. In order to solve the sealing problem which occurred due to the thin and non-axisymmetric shape, the use of a lead patch on the punch, which had been successful in hydroforming of thin tubes, was evaluated. A lead patch was attached to the punch to solve the sealing problem, which was caused by the stress gradient in the non-axisymmetric shape. FEM and experiments were also performed to analyze these sealing problems associated with the punch shape and non-axisymmetric shape. Finally, the lead patch was attached at tube surface where intensive local strain concentration would occur to enhance the hydroformability. These methods were successfully used to fabricate non-axisymmetric thin-walled tubular component with variable cross sections that had previously failed during traditional hydroforming.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2001.05a
• /
• pp.54-58
• /
• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.45-48
• /
• 2006

Recently, the use of tubular hydroforming technology has seen increased usage and increased consideration for wide range of tubular automotive applications. In manufacturing hydroformed parts, bending and pre-forming operations are often required prior to the hydroforming process. Higher bending quality of bent tubes is crucial for the successful hydroforming operation because most of plastic strains and wall thinning at the extrados of bend area occur in the bending operation. Springback is also observed due to elastic recovery of tube material after bending. Proper correction of springback is required not only to well place the bent tube into a hydroforming die cavity but also to avoid pinching when the upper die is brought down to closing position. Therefore, prediction of springback at early development stage is one of the key factors to produce high quality hydroformed parts. In this study, a variety of bending experiments has been carried out to investigate springback amount under change in bending angle and material boosting. Throughout the experimental approach, springback characteristics of bent tubes are quantified according to the change in various bending parameters, and a mathematical model to predict correction amount of springback to a given bend angle is found.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.295-301
• /
• 2002

Recently, design concepts of vehicle will have to consider the safty and economy of fuel consumtion. The hydroforming technology has applied to increase strength, and to decrease weight, cost and part count. The hydroforming has been recognized as general technique in automotive industry. This paper deals with the trends of automotive application of hydroforming, new hydroforming technologies, facilities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2008.05a
• /
• pp.333-336
• /
• 2008

There are many different kinds of forming processes to make a tubular product such as hydroforming and tube drawing. However, we should consider a better forming process in view point of energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission to save our earth. In this paper we have conducted FEM simulations to the various forming processes for sheet and tubular products to compare their energy consumptions. One example is tubular product and the other for drawn cup. From the comparisons of total energy for hydrofroming and tube sinking processes, hydroforming is consumed more energy than tube drawing. Also the cup drawing from sheet metal and tube sinking for the cup with flange indicate that the tube sinking is better than cup drawing of sheet metal in energy consumption.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.198-201
• /
• 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
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.17-22
• /
• 2013

Tube hydroforming is a technology that utilizes hydraulic pressure to form a tube into desired shapes inside die cavities. Due to its advantages, such as weight reduction, increased strength, improved quality, and reduced tooling cost, single-layered tube hydroforming is widely used in industry. However in some special applications, it is necessary to produce multi-layered tubular components which have corrosion resistance, thermal resistance, conductivity, and abrasion resistance. In this study, a hollow forming process to fabricate a part from multi-layered tubes for structural purposes is proposed. To accomplish a successful hydroforming process, an analytical model that predicts optimal load path for various parameters such as tube material properties, thickness of tubes, diameter of holes and the number of holes was developed. Tubular hydroforming experiments to fabricate a hollow part were performed and the optimal loading path developed by the analytical model was successfully verified. The results show that the proposed hydroforming process can effectively produce hollow parts with multi-layered tube without defects such as wrinkling or fracture.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.10 no.7
• /
• pp.534-542
• /
• 2001

Tubular hydroforming has attracted increased attention in the automotive industry recently. In this study, a professional finite element program for analysis and design of tube hydroforming processes, has been developed, called HydroFORM-3D, which is based on a rigid-plastic model. With the developed program HydroFORM-3D, the hydroforming process for an automobile lower arm is analyzed and designed. The manufacturing process for a lower arm consists of tube bending, preforming, and final hydroforming. To accomplish successful hydroforming process design, thorough investigation on proper combination of process parameters such as internal hydraulic pressure, axial feeding, and tool geometry is required. This paper describes the influences of forming conditions on the hydroforming of a lower arm by using simulation to predict strain and tube shape during bending, preforming, and final hydroforming processes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2001.05a
• /
• pp.36-39
• /
• 2001

Tubular hydroforming has attracted increased attention in the automotive industry recently. In this study, a professional finite element program for analysis and design of tube hydroforming processes has been developed, called HydroFORM-3D, which is based on a rigid-plastic model. With the developed program several hydroforming processes such as a tee extrusion, an automotive rear axle housing and lower arm are analyzed and designed. And also, the Oyane's ductile fracture integral I was calculated from the histories of stress and strain according to every element and then the forming limit of the hydroforming process could be evaluated. The pediction of the bursting failure and the plastic deformation during typical hydroforming processes shows to be reasonable so that this approach can be extended to other various tube hydroforming processes.