Role of mandrel in NC precision bending process of thin-walled tube

The thin-walled tube NC bending process is a much complex physical process with multi-factors coupling interactive effects. The mandrel is the key to improve bending limit and to achieve high quality. In this study, one analytical model of the mandrel (including mandrel shank and balls) has been established and some reference formulas have been deduced in order to select the mandrel parameters preliminarily, i.e. mandrel diameter d, mandrel extension e, number of balls n, thickness of balls k, space length between balls p and nose radius r. The experiment has been carried out to verify the analytical model. Based on the above analysis, a 3D elastic–plastic FEM model of the NC bending process is established using the dynamic explicit FEM code ABAQUS/Explicit. Thus, the influences of mandrel on stress distribution during the bending process have been investigated, and then the role of the mandrel in the NC precision bending process such as wrinkling prevention has been revealed. The results show the following: (1) Wrinkling in the tube NC bending process is conditional on membrane biaxial compressive stress state; the smaller the difference between the biaxial membrane stresses is, the more possibility of wrinkling occurs. (2) If the mandrels of larger sizes are used, it will cause the neutral axial to move outward and the difference between the in-plane compressive stresses to become more obvious, which may increase minimum wrinkling energy and anti-wrinkling ability. But the larger mandrel sizes make outside tube over-thinning. (3) When the mandrel extension length increases, the neutral axial will move outward and the difference between the biaxial compressive stresses becomes larger, but the significance is less than that of the mandrel diameter. The excessive extension will cause tube to over thin or even crack. (4) The significance of ball number's effect on the neutral axial position and difference between biaxial compressive stresses is between ones of mandrel diameter and mandrel extension. Increasing the ball number will enhance the thinning degree and manufacturing cost. The results may help to better understanding of mandrel role on the improvement of forming limit and forming quality in the process.