Tube hydroforming of aluminium extrusions using a conical die and extensive feeding Review Article

Tube hydroforming is gaining increasing interest from the metal forming industry. Complicated parts with a high level of structural component integration, e.g. engine cradles, subframes and exhaust systems, can be manufactured at a low cost with excellent repeatability. By using finite element (FE) simulations, there is a possibility to reduce the cost of expensive prototypes and reduce the trial and error design process to a minimum. However, when simulating a hydroforming process, the knowledge and computational methods used in conventional metal forming simulations are not always applicable. This concerns, e.g. the material modelling and validation. In this work, the influence of constitutive modelling on the results from a hydroforming process with extensive feeding is studied. In addition, interrupted tests have been used in order to validate the prediction of radial deformation and wall thickness throughout the complete process.