Ghafoor Khodayari - Industrial Research and Development Institute(IRDI)۶۴۹ Prospect Blvd. P.O. Box ۵۱۸; Midland, Ontario,Canada N۲L ۳G۱

Aluminum tubes are important source components for manufacturing hollow bodies using hydroforming process. Production of parts with complex structures using tube materials often requires some operations prior to hydroforming. Bending is one of the typical forming processes to prepare tubes for actual hydroforming. It influences the mechanical properties of the tube material and causes a substantial reduction in formability in subsequent hydroforming [1, 2]. Furthermore, the non-uniformity of the wall thickness around the circumference of a bent tube affects also the uniformity of the thickness of the final product.