Experimental process development and aerospace alloy formability studies for hydroforming

Résumé

In tube hydroforming process, a pressurized liquid is used to expand a thin walled tube inside a closed die in order to fill the die cavity. Tube hydroforming has many advantages that make it interesting for different industries such as automotive and aerospace, but due to the effects of different factors, such as formability of the material, load path (end feeding force and internal pressure during the process), tool geometry and friction, it is a quite complex manufacturing process. Therefore, finite element simulation along with optimization methods can significantly reduce the cost of trial and error approach used in conventional manufacturing methods. In this work, to investigate the effects of different process parameters such as friction condition, tube thickness and end feeding on the final product, tube hydroforming experiments were performed using a round to square-shape die. Experiments were performed on stainless steel 321 tubes with 50.8 mm (2 in) diameter and two different thicknesses; 0.9 mm and 1.2 mm. Experimental load paths were obtained via the data acquisition system of the hydroforming press, which is fully instrumented. An automated deformation measurement system, Argus, was used to measure the strains on the hydroformed tubes. Data collected from the initial experiments were used to simulate and then optimize the process. The process was simulated and optimized using Ls-Dyna and Ls- Opt software, respectively. Strains and thickness variations measured from experiments were compared to FE simulation results at critical sections. The comparison of the results from FE simulations and experiments were in good agreement, indicating that the approach can be used for predicting the final shape and thickness variations of the hydroformed parts for aerospace applications.

Date	18 déc. 2013
langue originale	Anglais américain
Établissement diplômant	École de technologie supérieure
Superviseur	Henri Champliaud (Directeur(-trice)) & Javad Gholipour Baradari (Codirecteur(-trice))