• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.202-205
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• 2004

A bumper comprises a bumper face, a bumper beam for distributing the load from the impacts applied to the bumper face and reinforcing the bumper, an absorber member interposed between the bumper face and the bumper beam, and a pair of bumper stays which secure the bumper beam to the vehicle body. A conventional bumper stay structure is assembled into several stamped parts, so several processes are needed and the structure is complicated. In this study the bumper stay is applied to the tubular hydroforming which is known to have several advantages such as the reduction of the number of the process and the part weight. The thickness distribution of the tube is mainly considered to evaluate the hydro-formability and the shape of the tube is determined.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2000

In this paper, we developed the hydroforming simulator which can apply an axial compressive force and high internal pressure to bulge a tube. Experimental dtudies have been performed to investigate the effect of each parameters such as internal pressure and axial compression stroke required for the forming of circular components. Under the improper forming conditions there were two forming failures. One was the axial buckling due to excessive axial compressive load and the other was the circumferential necking fracture due to relatively high internal pressure. A safe forming zone without any failures exists between these two extreme zones. Also the condition of forming failure such as fracture is examined throughout the theoretical analysis. This paper covers a brief overview of the mechanism of hydroforming process as well as the design of die and tools.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.244-247
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• 2009

Hydroformed parts have higher dimensional accuracy, structural strength, and dimensional repeatability. Particularly in the automotive industry, manufacturing of parts with complex shapes from tubular materials sometimes requires one or more pre-forming operations such as bending before the hydroforming process. The pre-bending process is an important factor for successful hydroforming in the case where the perimeter of the blank is nearly the same as that of final product. The bendability of a tube depends on the parameters such as the bending radius, variation of the diameter, thickness, hardness. This study shows the analysis of bending through the stainless steel tubes bent to rotary draw bending machine.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2009

Hydroformed parts have higher dimensional accuracy, structural strength, and dimensional repeatability. Particularly in the automotive industry, manufacturing of parts with complex shapes from tubular materials sometimes requires one or more pre-forming operations such as bending before the hydroforming process. The pre-bending process is an important process for the successful hydroforming in the case where the perimeter of the blank is nearly the same as that of final product. The bendability of a tube depends on the parameters such as the bending radius, welding methods, mechanical properties and hardness. Through the stainless steel tubes bent by rotary draw bending machine, this study shows the following : (1) The influence on spring back ratio variation with stress level in the welded bent tube. (2) The Cross-section ovality variation with weld seam position and bending radius. (3) The relation between elongation and thickness reduction of tension zone with weld seam position and bending radius. (4) Workability evaluation of bent stainless steel tubes through the hardness of materials and hardness increment. The results of this study may help to understanding of characteristics on bendability of stainless steel tubes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.905-910
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• 2010

Exhaust manifolds are the first structures to be developed by hydroforming; mass production of exhaust manifolds by this method will be possible soon. This is obviously related with tight emission regulation induced by environmental problems commonly for both domestic and worldwide and standards, thus evoking its solution for domestic automakers. Compared to conventional cast products, thin-gauge tubular hydroformed exhaust manifold have superior features; for example, in the hydroformed exhaust manifold, gas decomposition during the cold-start period of the engine is reduced by lowering the heat sink, and manufacturing process is simplified since less welding is involved. The aim of this study is to develop a hydroformed exhaust manifold; the study deals with the components, the hydroforming process, and tool design of the manifolds. The performance of the exhaust system is evaluated by performing flow analysis, heat-transfer analysis, heat-stress analysis, and fatigue analysis by using a computer.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.34-41
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• 2003

Weld quality monitoring and seam tracking along the butt-joint lengthwise to the tube axis are studied. The material of tube is 60kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ grade steel sheet, and the longitudinal butt-joint is shaped by 2 roll bending machine. The tube with a thickness of 1.5mm, diameter of 105.4mm and length of 2000mm is successfully obtained by the $CO_2$ laser welding system equipped with a seam tracker and plasma sensor. Experimental results show that the developed welding system can be used for the precision seam tracking and the real-time monitoring of weld quality, and the laser welded tube can be used for car body md component after tubular hydroforming.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.239-242
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• 2005

In the roll forming, a flat strip is progressively deformed by feeding it through a series of rotating rolls. There are various layouts for the tube toll-forming stages. The process sequences are as follows: leveling, roll-forming, welding, bead removing, seam annealing, cooling, sizing and cutting. Electric resistance welded(ERW) tubes have been widely used for the machinery parts, especially for hydroformed automotive parts. However conventional ERW tubes do not have a high formability because of hardening of welded portion by rapid cooling. Moreover the decrease in thickness of the welded portion during the grinding of the inner and outer bead may reduce the formability of the tube. In case of applying the tubular parts without grinding the bead, the flow of the fluid can be prevented due to the turbulent flow induced by the inner bead. In attempt to determine the optimal bead grinding amount in the roll forming process, in the present paper, the effects of the removal depth and width of the inner beads on the hydroformability are analyzed by the finite element simulation.