Hydroforming of magnesium and aluminum alloy tube at elevated temperature is becoming a very promising method to manufacture light-weight hollow components.Uniaxial tensile test and hydrobulging test were used to investigate the formability of AZ31B magnesium tube at different temperatures.The tube was manufactured by porthole die extrusion.Results show that as temperature increase,the tension formability along the extrusion direction measured by tensile test increases significantly,whereas the maximum hydrobulging ratio measured by hydrobulging test does not change accordingly.This anisotropy character of the tube,i.e.,different properties in axial direction and hoop direction,is mainly dependant on the extrusion process.In addition,there exists several weld lines along the extrusion direction.These weld lines will become the weakest positions when formed at elevated temperature,and will consequently decrease the formability of the tube during hydroforming process.
HE Zhubin,LIU Gang,YUAN Shijian,and LIANG Yingchun School of Materials Science & Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin 150001,China
The hydroforming experiment of aluminum tubular part with rectangular section was carried out to investigate influence of axial feeding on thickness distribution and calibration pressure of the corner.Thickness distribution and relation between corner radius and internal pressure were analyzed.The influence of lubricant was discussed.Microstructure and hardness of different region were observed.It is shown that thickness reduction in the transition region between the corner and center region is the biggest.Friction condition has influence both on the thickness distribution and calibration pressure of the corner.As the increase of the axial feeding,the calibration pressure is decreased.There is only little change for the microstructure,but the hardness is increased by 23.3% for the transition region.
Hydroforming process of a Y-shaped stainless steel tube was investigated through numerical simulation and experiments. The forming process and reasons of typical defects were analyzed with three different loading paths. Thickness distribution of formed Y-shaped tube was obtained. It is shown by numerical and experimental results that the transition regions are depressed in the forming condition of low inner pressure and wrinkles occur, while fracture occurs in the forming condition of high inner pressure. After forming, the thickness in left transition fillet region is the largest, that in right transition fillet region is thinner, and the thinnest thickness is at the top of the protrusion. The original thickness line is below the top of the protrusion. The thinning area occurs above this line, while the thickening area is below this line. The maximum thinning rate is significantly increased as the calibration pressure increases, while the maximum thickening rate remains almost unchanged.
A new process of hydroforming with controllable radial pressure was proposed to overcome difficulties in the forming of low plastic materials and large height-to-diameter ratio workpieces. A typical 5A06 aluminum alloy dome was numerically and experimentally investigated. The reasons for typical defects were analyzed under different radial pressures. Effects of radial pressure on the thickness distribution were discussed and optimal radial pressure was determined. It is shown by numerical simulations and experiment that a cup with a drawing ratio of 2.4 is formed by the new process of hydroforming with controllable radial pressure. It is significantly effective for the forming of low plastic materials and large height-to-diameter ratio workpieces. Two typical thinning points exit along the dome wall. With the radial pressure,thinning is decreased effectively at the two points,the dome forming is achieved and thickness distribution is more uniform.
An experiment was conducted on hydroforming a double-diameter aluminum alloy tubular part.The influence of loading paths,i.e.the relation between internal pressure and axial feeding,on the forming results was emphasized with fixed total axial feeding length.The loading paths were analyzed together with the corresponding diagram of stress and strain.Two kinds of bursting phenomenon occurred in the experiment.Sound part can be formed whether there are wrinkles or not.It is indicated by the experiment results that the loading path has great effect on the distribution of material during axial feeding.The thickness distribution is more even for the part formed with wrinkles than that without wrinkles.
WANG Xiaosong1),YUAN Shijian1),YAO Yingxue2),and Wang Z.R.1)1) School of Material Science and Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology 2) School of Mechatronics Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin 150001,China
