Formability of Al6061 Extruded Tube in Warm Hydroforming

Abstract

Formability of tube in elevated temperature is essential data to design the warm hydroforming process parameters, such as tube diameter, forming temperature and die geometries. Since the quantitative data of forming limit can be used to predict the failure on forming process, formability data available on the FE analysis is one of the very important information for the optimum design. In this study, the effect of heat treatment conditions and deformation temperature on the formability was investigated for the warm hydroforming of Al6061 tube. Full annealing and T6-treatment are applied for the heat treatment of Al6061 tubes. To evaluate the hydroformability, uni-axial tensile test and bulge test were performed at temperature ranges between room temperature and 300oC. The measured flow stresses were used as input parameters for the simulation of warm hydroforming process. The damage value and strain variation during hydroforming are analysed by FEM. A forming limit based on the ductile fracture criteria has been proposed by combining the results of experimental and FE analysis for the estimation of formability and optimization of warm hydroforming process.