Experimental investigation on the energy absorption behavior of end formed AA6061 alloy tubes

Thin-walled tubes are used as energy absorbing elements in various applications. The circular tube is a famous energy absorber because an axisymmetric structure dissipates energy equally around its surface leading to uniform force distribution. In the present study, the energy absorption characteristics of end formed aluminium AA6061 alloy circular tubes have been studied. Experiments were conducted on tubes of internal radius R₀ = 18 mm and various thicknesses such as t = 1mm, 2mm and 3mm. Tubes were expanded using conical-cylindrical dies and having different die-cone angles of α = 150, 30° and 45° . The radius, R_d of the cylindrical part of the die is taken as 20 mm. The load-displacement curves were plotted from the experimental results and the energy absorbed was measured from the curves and conclusions were drawn.