Hydraulic Bulge Tests of Magnesium Tubes at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

Evaluation of the formability of tubes is an important issue in tube hydroforming processes. Since tubular materials during tube hydroforming are under a biaxial even triaxial stress state, other biaxial-stress-based testing methods are needed. In this paper, uniaxial tensile tests at different temperatures are firstly employed to evaluate the material properties of magnesium alloy AZ61 tubes. A hydraulic bulge warm forming machine, which is used for hydraulic bulge tests with a fixed tube length, is also designed and manufactured. Using this self-designed testing machine, experiments of bulge tests of magnesium alloy AZ61 tubes at elevated temperatures are carried out. From the experimental results, the bulge formability of the magnesium alloy tubes at different temperatures is discussed.