The Experts below are selected from a list of 315 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Mario Fafard - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Global optimisation of the production of complex aluminium Tubes by the hydroforming process
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2015Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:With the recent development of analysis software products, designers and engineers are able to design more complex parts to obtain better performance in the final products. In this study, the Tube hydroforming process, including preceding processes, i.e. variable thickness Tube Drawing and two-step bending, are globally optimised to obtain parts without any problems like bursting or un-filled zones at the end of the forming processes. Unlike most previous studies which searched for an optimum hydroforming process by changing two hydroforming parameters, i.e. axial load feeding and internal pressure, in this study, the distribution of initial Tube wall thickness and the variation of thickness due to bending steps will be taken into account in a global optimisation algorithm. The developed algorithm is a general-purpose algorithm that can encompass different processes and change various parameters in each process to be able to reach the global objective. The case study used was a part that needs two-step variable thickness Tube Drawing, and two bending steps before hydroforming. To verify the numerical results in each forming stage and at the end of all forming processes, extensive experiments were performed, and acceptable agreements were observed.
-
Application of a new procedure for the optimization of variable thickness Drawing of aluminium Tubes
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2012Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:The application of aluminium Tubes, especially with variation of thickness, in the structures of various transportation devices like cars and bicycles makes it a point of interest for various designers. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing process was studied with a newly developed procedure to evaluate the effect of tools geometries on the maximum possible Tube deformation. The procedure applies the desired variation in the design variables (die angle, mandrel angle, and die fillet radius) and the required adjustments and changes in the geometries with the aid of an in-house code automatically. Based on the optimized results, a die and a mandrel were built to verify numerical results in variable thickness Tube Drawing. The numerical results were compared with the experiments in the prototype machine, which was designed by this group, and acceptable agreements were observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
Effect of Cross Section Reduction on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium Tubes Drawn With Variable Wall Thickness
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Variable thickness Tube Drawing is a new process for the production of high performance Tubes. In this study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of cross section reduction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of variable thickness aluminium Tubes drawn using two different position controlled mandrel techniques. Various Tubes with three different outer diameters were subjected to cold Drawing at room temperature from 11% to 41% cross section reduction. The local mechanical properties were determined from tensile tests carried out on specimens cut from different positions in the Tubes parallel to their axes. The distributions of the Vickers hardness over the surfaces at 0 deg and 90 deg to the Drawing direction were examined. It was found that the microhardness, yield strength, and ultimate tensile of the deformed samples increase and the corresponding elongation decreases with the increase of cross section reduction. Also, the anisotropy in microstructure and mechanical properties is more significant with increasing of cross section reduction. The evolution of mechanical properties of drawn Tubes versus cross section reduction depends on the mandrel shapes and initial Tube outer diameter. This study helps to further understand the microstructure and mechanical properties evolutions during Tube Drawing process with variable thickness.
-
Supplemental Proceedings: General Paper Selections, Volume 3 - A New Method for the Determination of Formability Limit in the Tube Drawing Process
Supplemental Proceedings, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:A new method for determination of formability limit in the Tube Drawing process was developed using the position controlled mandrel technique. In this method the mandrel has conical angle in a way that with change of mandrel position, the distance between die and mandrel will be changed and various combinations of thicknesses can be obtained using just one conic mandrel. The advantage of this method is determining the limit cross-sectional reduction for each Tube dimension with just one experiment. The realized Drawing limit tests on the aluminium Tubes show that the average maximum area reduction of AA6063 Tubes is about 40%. An optimal Tube Drawing schedule for production of the constant wall thickness aluminium Tubes with high cross-sectional reduction in one pass was successfully established based on the proposed formability limit test.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
investigation of the formability limit of aluminium Tubes drawn with variable wall thickness
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Guillaume Damours, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Structural aluminium Tubes have very important industrial applications, particularly in automobile industry. Tube Drawing process is widely used to reduce the outer and inner diameters of Tubes. An important issue in the Tube Drawing process to obtain variable wall thickness is how to determinate and predict its formability limits. Previously published works generally deal with the formability limit of conventional Tube Drawing based on experimental analysis, analytical method and finite element method. However, in the case of variable wall thickness Tubes, there is a lack of knowledge and data in order to predict their limit of formability. In the present study, both theoretical and experimental methods are proposed for estimating the formability limit of the variable wall thickness aluminium Tubes used for the transportation purposes. A modification of a conical mandrel was proposed and a special control system for mandrel displacement during the process was used to carry out the Drawing tests. During the Drawing process, the Tube pulling axis was controlled at constant speed while the mandrel was moved to achieve the continuously variable wall thickness. The formability limit in term of minimum wall thickness and maximum area reduction was obtained before Tube rupture. These values are useful data for the determination of the extent of deformation during a Drawing process that a material can experience without failure. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was also determined experimentally. Further, an extension of an upper bound solution developed in previous publications is proposed to predict the Drawing stress field. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was used as a criterion for fracture analysis. It was shown that the analytical model with its new extension combined to the fracture criterion predicts quite well the thickness and area reduction limit. The experimental studies were completed by examining the microstructure and strain field at the limit state.
Reza Bihamta - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Global optimisation of the production of complex aluminium Tubes by the hydroforming process
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2015Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:With the recent development of analysis software products, designers and engineers are able to design more complex parts to obtain better performance in the final products. In this study, the Tube hydroforming process, including preceding processes, i.e. variable thickness Tube Drawing and two-step bending, are globally optimised to obtain parts without any problems like bursting or un-filled zones at the end of the forming processes. Unlike most previous studies which searched for an optimum hydroforming process by changing two hydroforming parameters, i.e. axial load feeding and internal pressure, in this study, the distribution of initial Tube wall thickness and the variation of thickness due to bending steps will be taken into account in a global optimisation algorithm. The developed algorithm is a general-purpose algorithm that can encompass different processes and change various parameters in each process to be able to reach the global objective. The case study used was a part that needs two-step variable thickness Tube Drawing, and two bending steps before hydroforming. To verify the numerical results in each forming stage and at the end of all forming processes, extensive experiments were performed, and acceptable agreements were observed.
-
Application of a new procedure for the optimization of variable thickness Drawing of aluminium Tubes
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2012Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:The application of aluminium Tubes, especially with variation of thickness, in the structures of various transportation devices like cars and bicycles makes it a point of interest for various designers. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing process was studied with a newly developed procedure to evaluate the effect of tools geometries on the maximum possible Tube deformation. The procedure applies the desired variation in the design variables (die angle, mandrel angle, and die fillet radius) and the required adjustments and changes in the geometries with the aid of an in-house code automatically. Based on the optimized results, a die and a mandrel were built to verify numerical results in variable thickness Tube Drawing. The numerical results were compared with the experiments in the prototype machine, which was designed by this group, and acceptable agreements were observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
Effect of Cross Section Reduction on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium Tubes Drawn With Variable Wall Thickness
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Variable thickness Tube Drawing is a new process for the production of high performance Tubes. In this study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of cross section reduction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of variable thickness aluminium Tubes drawn using two different position controlled mandrel techniques. Various Tubes with three different outer diameters were subjected to cold Drawing at room temperature from 11% to 41% cross section reduction. The local mechanical properties were determined from tensile tests carried out on specimens cut from different positions in the Tubes parallel to their axes. The distributions of the Vickers hardness over the surfaces at 0 deg and 90 deg to the Drawing direction were examined. It was found that the microhardness, yield strength, and ultimate tensile of the deformed samples increase and the corresponding elongation decreases with the increase of cross section reduction. Also, the anisotropy in microstructure and mechanical properties is more significant with increasing of cross section reduction. The evolution of mechanical properties of drawn Tubes versus cross section reduction depends on the mandrel shapes and initial Tube outer diameter. This study helps to further understand the microstructure and mechanical properties evolutions during Tube Drawing process with variable thickness.
-
Supplemental Proceedings: General Paper Selections, Volume 3 - A New Method for the Determination of Formability Limit in the Tube Drawing Process
Supplemental Proceedings, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:A new method for determination of formability limit in the Tube Drawing process was developed using the position controlled mandrel technique. In this method the mandrel has conical angle in a way that with change of mandrel position, the distance between die and mandrel will be changed and various combinations of thicknesses can be obtained using just one conic mandrel. The advantage of this method is determining the limit cross-sectional reduction for each Tube dimension with just one experiment. The realized Drawing limit tests on the aluminium Tubes show that the average maximum area reduction of AA6063 Tubes is about 40%. An optimal Tube Drawing schedule for production of the constant wall thickness aluminium Tubes with high cross-sectional reduction in one pass was successfully established based on the proposed formability limit test.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
investigation of the formability limit of aluminium Tubes drawn with variable wall thickness
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Guillaume Damours, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Structural aluminium Tubes have very important industrial applications, particularly in automobile industry. Tube Drawing process is widely used to reduce the outer and inner diameters of Tubes. An important issue in the Tube Drawing process to obtain variable wall thickness is how to determinate and predict its formability limits. Previously published works generally deal with the formability limit of conventional Tube Drawing based on experimental analysis, analytical method and finite element method. However, in the case of variable wall thickness Tubes, there is a lack of knowledge and data in order to predict their limit of formability. In the present study, both theoretical and experimental methods are proposed for estimating the formability limit of the variable wall thickness aluminium Tubes used for the transportation purposes. A modification of a conical mandrel was proposed and a special control system for mandrel displacement during the process was used to carry out the Drawing tests. During the Drawing process, the Tube pulling axis was controlled at constant speed while the mandrel was moved to achieve the continuously variable wall thickness. The formability limit in term of minimum wall thickness and maximum area reduction was obtained before Tube rupture. These values are useful data for the determination of the extent of deformation during a Drawing process that a material can experience without failure. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was also determined experimentally. Further, an extension of an upper bound solution developed in previous publications is proposed to predict the Drawing stress field. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was used as a criterion for fracture analysis. It was shown that the analytical model with its new extension combined to the fracture criterion predicts quite well the thickness and area reduction limit. The experimental studies were completed by examining the microstructure and strain field at the limit state.
Michel Guillot - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Global optimisation of the production of complex aluminium Tubes by the hydroforming process
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2015Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:With the recent development of analysis software products, designers and engineers are able to design more complex parts to obtain better performance in the final products. In this study, the Tube hydroforming process, including preceding processes, i.e. variable thickness Tube Drawing and two-step bending, are globally optimised to obtain parts without any problems like bursting or un-filled zones at the end of the forming processes. Unlike most previous studies which searched for an optimum hydroforming process by changing two hydroforming parameters, i.e. axial load feeding and internal pressure, in this study, the distribution of initial Tube wall thickness and the variation of thickness due to bending steps will be taken into account in a global optimisation algorithm. The developed algorithm is a general-purpose algorithm that can encompass different processes and change various parameters in each process to be able to reach the global objective. The case study used was a part that needs two-step variable thickness Tube Drawing, and two bending steps before hydroforming. To verify the numerical results in each forming stage and at the end of all forming processes, extensive experiments were performed, and acceptable agreements were observed.
-
Application of a new procedure for the optimization of variable thickness Drawing of aluminium Tubes
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2012Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:The application of aluminium Tubes, especially with variation of thickness, in the structures of various transportation devices like cars and bicycles makes it a point of interest for various designers. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing process was studied with a newly developed procedure to evaluate the effect of tools geometries on the maximum possible Tube deformation. The procedure applies the desired variation in the design variables (die angle, mandrel angle, and die fillet radius) and the required adjustments and changes in the geometries with the aid of an in-house code automatically. Based on the optimized results, a die and a mandrel were built to verify numerical results in variable thickness Tube Drawing. The numerical results were compared with the experiments in the prototype machine, which was designed by this group, and acceptable agreements were observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
Effect of Cross Section Reduction on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium Tubes Drawn With Variable Wall Thickness
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Variable thickness Tube Drawing is a new process for the production of high performance Tubes. In this study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of cross section reduction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of variable thickness aluminium Tubes drawn using two different position controlled mandrel techniques. Various Tubes with three different outer diameters were subjected to cold Drawing at room temperature from 11% to 41% cross section reduction. The local mechanical properties were determined from tensile tests carried out on specimens cut from different positions in the Tubes parallel to their axes. The distributions of the Vickers hardness over the surfaces at 0 deg and 90 deg to the Drawing direction were examined. It was found that the microhardness, yield strength, and ultimate tensile of the deformed samples increase and the corresponding elongation decreases with the increase of cross section reduction. Also, the anisotropy in microstructure and mechanical properties is more significant with increasing of cross section reduction. The evolution of mechanical properties of drawn Tubes versus cross section reduction depends on the mandrel shapes and initial Tube outer diameter. This study helps to further understand the microstructure and mechanical properties evolutions during Tube Drawing process with variable thickness.
-
Supplemental Proceedings: General Paper Selections, Volume 3 - A New Method for the Determination of Formability Limit in the Tube Drawing Process
Supplemental Proceedings, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:A new method for determination of formability limit in the Tube Drawing process was developed using the position controlled mandrel technique. In this method the mandrel has conical angle in a way that with change of mandrel position, the distance between die and mandrel will be changed and various combinations of thicknesses can be obtained using just one conic mandrel. The advantage of this method is determining the limit cross-sectional reduction for each Tube dimension with just one experiment. The realized Drawing limit tests on the aluminium Tubes show that the average maximum area reduction of AA6063 Tubes is about 40%. An optimal Tube Drawing schedule for production of the constant wall thickness aluminium Tubes with high cross-sectional reduction in one pass was successfully established based on the proposed formability limit test.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
investigation of the formability limit of aluminium Tubes drawn with variable wall thickness
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Guillaume Damours, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Structural aluminium Tubes have very important industrial applications, particularly in automobile industry. Tube Drawing process is widely used to reduce the outer and inner diameters of Tubes. An important issue in the Tube Drawing process to obtain variable wall thickness is how to determinate and predict its formability limits. Previously published works generally deal with the formability limit of conventional Tube Drawing based on experimental analysis, analytical method and finite element method. However, in the case of variable wall thickness Tubes, there is a lack of knowledge and data in order to predict their limit of formability. In the present study, both theoretical and experimental methods are proposed for estimating the formability limit of the variable wall thickness aluminium Tubes used for the transportation purposes. A modification of a conical mandrel was proposed and a special control system for mandrel displacement during the process was used to carry out the Drawing tests. During the Drawing process, the Tube pulling axis was controlled at constant speed while the mandrel was moved to achieve the continuously variable wall thickness. The formability limit in term of minimum wall thickness and maximum area reduction was obtained before Tube rupture. These values are useful data for the determination of the extent of deformation during a Drawing process that a material can experience without failure. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was also determined experimentally. Further, an extension of an upper bound solution developed in previous publications is proposed to predict the Drawing stress field. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was used as a criterion for fracture analysis. It was shown that the analytical model with its new extension combined to the fracture criterion predicts quite well the thickness and area reduction limit. The experimental studies were completed by examining the microstructure and strain field at the limit state.
Ahmed Rahem - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Global optimisation of the production of complex aluminium Tubes by the hydroforming process
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2015Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:With the recent development of analysis software products, designers and engineers are able to design more complex parts to obtain better performance in the final products. In this study, the Tube hydroforming process, including preceding processes, i.e. variable thickness Tube Drawing and two-step bending, are globally optimised to obtain parts without any problems like bursting or un-filled zones at the end of the forming processes. Unlike most previous studies which searched for an optimum hydroforming process by changing two hydroforming parameters, i.e. axial load feeding and internal pressure, in this study, the distribution of initial Tube wall thickness and the variation of thickness due to bending steps will be taken into account in a global optimisation algorithm. The developed algorithm is a general-purpose algorithm that can encompass different processes and change various parameters in each process to be able to reach the global objective. The case study used was a part that needs two-step variable thickness Tube Drawing, and two bending steps before hydroforming. To verify the numerical results in each forming stage and at the end of all forming processes, extensive experiments were performed, and acceptable agreements were observed.
-
Application of a new procedure for the optimization of variable thickness Drawing of aluminium Tubes
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2012Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:The application of aluminium Tubes, especially with variation of thickness, in the structures of various transportation devices like cars and bicycles makes it a point of interest for various designers. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing process was studied with a newly developed procedure to evaluate the effect of tools geometries on the maximum possible Tube deformation. The procedure applies the desired variation in the design variables (die angle, mandrel angle, and die fillet radius) and the required adjustments and changes in the geometries with the aid of an in-house code automatically. Based on the optimized results, a die and a mandrel were built to verify numerical results in variable thickness Tube Drawing. The numerical results were compared with the experiments in the prototype machine, which was designed by this group, and acceptable agreements were observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
Effect of Cross Section Reduction on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium Tubes Drawn With Variable Wall Thickness
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Variable thickness Tube Drawing is a new process for the production of high performance Tubes. In this study, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of cross section reduction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of variable thickness aluminium Tubes drawn using two different position controlled mandrel techniques. Various Tubes with three different outer diameters were subjected to cold Drawing at room temperature from 11% to 41% cross section reduction. The local mechanical properties were determined from tensile tests carried out on specimens cut from different positions in the Tubes parallel to their axes. The distributions of the Vickers hardness over the surfaces at 0 deg and 90 deg to the Drawing direction were examined. It was found that the microhardness, yield strength, and ultimate tensile of the deformed samples increase and the corresponding elongation decreases with the increase of cross section reduction. Also, the anisotropy in microstructure and mechanical properties is more significant with increasing of cross section reduction. The evolution of mechanical properties of drawn Tubes versus cross section reduction depends on the mandrel shapes and initial Tube outer diameter. This study helps to further understand the microstructure and mechanical properties evolutions during Tube Drawing process with variable thickness.
-
Supplemental Proceedings: General Paper Selections, Volume 3 - A New Method for the Determination of Formability Limit in the Tube Drawing Process
Supplemental Proceedings, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:A new method for determination of formability limit in the Tube Drawing process was developed using the position controlled mandrel technique. In this method the mandrel has conical angle in a way that with change of mandrel position, the distance between die and mandrel will be changed and various combinations of thicknesses can be obtained using just one conic mandrel. The advantage of this method is determining the limit cross-sectional reduction for each Tube dimension with just one experiment. The realized Drawing limit tests on the aluminium Tubes show that the average maximum area reduction of AA6063 Tubes is about 40%. An optimal Tube Drawing schedule for production of the constant wall thickness aluminium Tubes with high cross-sectional reduction in one pass was successfully established based on the proposed formability limit test.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
investigation of the formability limit of aluminium Tubes drawn with variable wall thickness
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Guillaume Damours, Ahmed Rahem, Mario FafardAbstract:Structural aluminium Tubes have very important industrial applications, particularly in automobile industry. Tube Drawing process is widely used to reduce the outer and inner diameters of Tubes. An important issue in the Tube Drawing process to obtain variable wall thickness is how to determinate and predict its formability limits. Previously published works generally deal with the formability limit of conventional Tube Drawing based on experimental analysis, analytical method and finite element method. However, in the case of variable wall thickness Tubes, there is a lack of knowledge and data in order to predict their limit of formability. In the present study, both theoretical and experimental methods are proposed for estimating the formability limit of the variable wall thickness aluminium Tubes used for the transportation purposes. A modification of a conical mandrel was proposed and a special control system for mandrel displacement during the process was used to carry out the Drawing tests. During the Drawing process, the Tube pulling axis was controlled at constant speed while the mandrel was moved to achieve the continuously variable wall thickness. The formability limit in term of minimum wall thickness and maximum area reduction was obtained before Tube rupture. These values are useful data for the determination of the extent of deformation during a Drawing process that a material can experience without failure. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was also determined experimentally. Further, an extension of an upper bound solution developed in previous publications is proposed to predict the Drawing stress field. The maximum Drawing stress ratio was used as a criterion for fracture analysis. It was shown that the analytical model with its new extension combined to the fracture criterion predicts quite well the thickness and area reduction limit. The experimental studies were completed by examining the microstructure and strain field at the limit state.
Guillaume D'amours - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Global optimisation of the production of complex aluminium Tubes by the hydroforming process
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2015Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:With the recent development of analysis software products, designers and engineers are able to design more complex parts to obtain better performance in the final products. In this study, the Tube hydroforming process, including preceding processes, i.e. variable thickness Tube Drawing and two-step bending, are globally optimised to obtain parts without any problems like bursting or un-filled zones at the end of the forming processes. Unlike most previous studies which searched for an optimum hydroforming process by changing two hydroforming parameters, i.e. axial load feeding and internal pressure, in this study, the distribution of initial Tube wall thickness and the variation of thickness due to bending steps will be taken into account in a global optimisation algorithm. The developed algorithm is a general-purpose algorithm that can encompass different processes and change various parameters in each process to be able to reach the global objective. The case study used was a part that needs two-step variable thickness Tube Drawing, and two bending steps before hydroforming. To verify the numerical results in each forming stage and at the end of all forming processes, extensive experiments were performed, and acceptable agreements were observed.
-
Application of a new procedure for the optimization of variable thickness Drawing of aluminium Tubes
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2012Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:The application of aluminium Tubes, especially with variation of thickness, in the structures of various transportation devices like cars and bicycles makes it a point of interest for various designers. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing process was studied with a newly developed procedure to evaluate the effect of tools geometries on the maximum possible Tube deformation. The procedure applies the desired variation in the design variables (die angle, mandrel angle, and die fillet radius) and the required adjustments and changes in the geometries with the aid of an in-house code automatically. Based on the optimized results, a die and a mandrel were built to verify numerical results in variable thickness Tube Drawing. The numerical results were compared with the experiments in the prototype machine, which was designed by this group, and acceptable agreements were observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
Supplemental Proceedings: General Paper Selections, Volume 3 - A New Method for the Determination of Formability Limit in the Tube Drawing Process
Supplemental Proceedings, 2011Co-Authors: Quang-hien Bui, Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:A new method for determination of formability limit in the Tube Drawing process was developed using the position controlled mandrel technique. In this method the mandrel has conical angle in a way that with change of mandrel position, the distance between die and mandrel will be changed and various combinations of thicknesses can be obtained using just one conic mandrel. The advantage of this method is determining the limit cross-sectional reduction for each Tube dimension with just one experiment. The realized Drawing limit tests on the aluminium Tubes show that the average maximum area reduction of AA6063 Tubes is about 40%. An optimal Tube Drawing schedule for production of the constant wall thickness aluminium Tubes with high cross-sectional reduction in one pass was successfully established based on the proposed formability limit test.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
-
A new method for production of variable thickness aluminium Tubes: Numerical and experimental studies
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:Tube Drawing is one of the mostly used techniques for producing Tubes in various sizes. In this method, Tube passes through the die and mandrel to produce constant wall thickness Tube. In some applications like transportation industry, design necessities cause requirement for these kinds of Tubes. Furthermore some manufacturing processes like Tube hydroforming dictate have a Tube with variable thickness. In this study, with a modification made to the classical Tube Drawing process, the sinking and fixed-mandrel Tube Drawing methods were mixed together to produce Tubes with variable thickness in the axial direction. An optimization method, namely the leapfrog optimizer for constrained minimization, was coupled with a finite element model to study design specifications i.e. effect of initial Tube geometry on this new process. The obtained results from finite element method (Tube Drawing force, the minimum and maximum final thickness of Tube) were compared with the experiments performed in the designed and manufactured machine and acceptable agreement was observed. Based on these results, the maximum and minimum thicknesses in the final produced Tube are mostly dependent on the thickness and outer diameter of initial Tube respectively.
-
Perspectives for the Application of Variable Thickness Aluminium Tubes in Hydroforming of Complex Tubes
Materials Science Forum, 2011Co-Authors: Reza Bihamta, Michel Guillot, Ahmed Rahem, Quang-hien Bui, Guillaume D'amours, Mario FafardAbstract:Tubular products have very important applications in various areas especially in the transportation industries. For instance, in the structure of cars there are various tubular products like roof headers, engine cradles, roof rails and frame rails with complex geometries which most of them need multiple steps like Tube Drawing, Tube bending and hydroforming for their production. Based on the recent studies by this group, it was proven that in most of the structural tubular parts in the cars it was not necessary to have constant thickness along the axial direction of Tube and it will be considered as overdesign and the overall weight of structures can be reduced considerably by using variable thickness Tubes. In this paper, the variable thickness Tube Drawing and its applications in the Tube bending and hydroforming applications were studied. The results showed that this process can have important role in reduction of defective parts in the production of complex Tubes by the Tube hydroforming method. However especial considerations should be taken into account in the design of thickness distribution along axial direction of these kinds of Tubes to avoid problems in the Drawing step and as well in the bending and hydroforming steps.
