Experimental investigation and analysis of thickness distribution in elliptically hydroformed Al6061T4 tube samples under different internal pressures

Abstract

In the present paper, the elliptical tube hydroforming samples have been deformed inside an elliptical die cavity with the help of internal pressure of water. Bulging thickness distribution of tube has been studied experimentally and numerically as well. The tube hydroforming process is depending on various hydroforming variables such as internal pressure, friction factor, axial force etc. In this experiment, axial feed is kept under constrained condition and performed under unique friction factor. The main attention of this paper is to measure the thickness at various major and minor axis points on tube sample deformed under different internal pressures. The percentage thinning of different major and minor axis points has been also discussed and plotted against simulated results. Finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out on elliptical samples using Abaqus software. The simulation results showed an agreement with the experimental data with some relative error which has been also plotted. Comparative results of incremental FEA prediction and experimental data have also been plotted with some deviation. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.