Hydroforming

About: Hydroforming is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2796 publications have been published within this topic receiving 26293 citations. The topic is also known as: Bulge forming.

Stamp Thermo-Hydroforming: A New Method for Processing Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Sheets:

Abstract: The stamp thermo-hydroforming process involves supporting the thermoplastic sheet with a bed of heated viscous fluid that applies a hydrostatic pressure across the part throughout the forming process. This hydrostatic pressure produces a through-thickness compressive stress that delays the onset of delamination, reduces the formation of wrinkles due to frictional traction forces, and results in better-formed parts. The overall goal of this research is to verify, through experimentation and numerical modeling, that the stamp thermo-hydroforming process provides a suitable alternative to conventional thermoforming methods, such as bag molding and stamp forming, as a means for processing glass-mat fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials. The goal of this paper is to solely address whether the use of a counteracting pressure can be beneficial during the forming of fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheets more specifically; this paper addresses the experimental setup that was developed and built to conduct small...

Increasing the stability of T-shape tube hydroforming process under stochastic framework

Abstract: Metal forming processes present several sources of uncertainties coming from material properties, geometric characteristics, and loading paths. During the manufacturing phase, such parameters may vary affecting the process stability and increasing the defect parts. Stochastic framework seems more pertinent than classical deterministic approaches to treat such problems since it is intended to include variabilities at the early design stage. In the present work, tube hydroforming process widely used in various industry applications is investigated. To ensure the process stability, loading paths should be optimized with taking into account randomness associated to the input parameters. To control the potential failure modes, the Forming Limit Stress Diagram is implemented in the finite element code to avoid necking while a simple geometrical criterion is defined for wrinkling. A global sensitivity analysis using the variance-based method is done which shows that the selected random parameters impact considerably the variance of failure indicators. Then, a numerical example of T-shape tube hydroforming process is proposed to show the efficiency of the stochastic framework. Statistical and probabilistic observations of the optimum solution show that the stochastic approach yields to an optimum less sensitive to such fluctuations which improves the process stability and minimizes considerably the percentage of defect parts in a mass production environment.

Method of manufacturing structural components from tube blanks of variable wall thickness

Abstract: A method for forming a tubular structural member includes the steps of cold forming a tube blank (10) to have a longitudinally variable but circumferentially constant wall thickness (t1, t2, t3) and forming the blank into the desired structural member (90). Preferably, the forming step involves hydroforming.

Punch for piercing and sealing hydroformed parts

Abstract: A punch for piercing and sealing hydroforming parts has a roll forming surface that produces an internal rolled edge portion in a formed part immediately following the punch piercing the part wherein the rolled edge portion acts to effect a tight high pressure seal between the part and the punch as the punch continues to form a required hole in the part. The roll-forming surface extends either partially or completely about the punch in determining the extent of the rolled edge portion in the part that it produces and is located between an end portion that effects the piercing operation and a larger finishing portion that completes the formation of the required hole.