Investigations on the ultrasonic assistance in the tube hydroforming process

The purpose of introducing ultrasonic oscillations in planar tube hydroforming process is to enhance the formability by obtaining a lower corner radius, improving thickness of the wall and to provide better tribological conditions at the die and tube interface. No works have been made to simulate the effects of the ultrasonic oscillation on the tube hydroforming process. Vibrations are imposed on the die, resulting in alternating gaps at the die and tube interface. The gaps created are opened and closed during each oscillation. Thus there is a potential of enhancing the formability in tube hydroforming in the presence of ultrasonic vibrations. Therefore, we attempted to understand theprocessing mechanism of the ultrasonic tube hydroforming in the square die using finite element method. In these simulations, die considered deformable. From these studies, the effects of ultrasonic oscillations on the tube hydroforming characteristic such as corner radius and wall thickness and stress distribution are reported and the results are compared with experimental data reported in the literature.

کلیدواژه ها:

tube hydroforming ، ultrasonic oscillations ، finite element method ، square die