Numerical and experimental study on expansion forming of inner grooved tube

Inner grooved copper tubes have attracted more and more attention in recent years. In mass production of tube–fin heat exchanger plates in ACR (air conditioning and refrigeration) industry, mechanical expansion is a key forming process which joins the fins to the tubes. During the process, the spiral grooves inside the tube with thermally efficient geometries are deformed and the tube–fin joints are influenced by the groove layer. In this paper, tube expansion forming process is studied and effect of the groove shape on forming quality is analyzed. Experiments are performed with tubes of different groove types. FE (finite element) model of the forming process is developed. Influences of the key geometry parameters, such as groove height ratio, apex and helix angle, on strength of the grooves as well as tube wall thinning are investigated. Sections of the tube–fin joints are observed and the die geometry on the joining status is examined. The results indicate that helix angle has significant effect on groove height reduction while groove height ratio is the main factor influencing the deformation resistant force; outer diameter and radius of the front part of the expanding die influence the tube–fin joining status.