Experimental and Numerical Investigation on the Heat Treatment Effects of AA6063 Aluminum Alloy Tubes During Rotary Draw Bending

In this study, the effects of heat treatment of aluminum alloy on the tube bending process were investigated in the rotary draw bending process. As two experimental and numerical simulation methods were used to determine the wall-thinning, ovality, and spring back for extruded, annealed, and aged AA6063 aluminum alloy tubes in different bending angles and bend radii. Numerical simulations were done by the finite element method with Abaqus software. The results indicated that in comparison with annealed and extruded parts, wall-thinning reduced whereas the amount of ovality and spring-back increased in the aged tubes. Also, in each case, the percentage of wallthinning decreased with increasing bend radius, and the effect of bend radius was greater in the reduction of ovality from the bending angle. Investigations showed that the spring-back rate also decreased with an increasing bending angle.