Limit Strains Comparison during Tube and Sheet Hydroforming and Sheet Stamping Processes by Numerical Simulation

Hydroforming is a manufacturing process that uses a fluid medium to form a component by using high internal pressure. Tube and sheet hydroforming has gained increasing interest in the automotive and aerospace industries because of its many advantages such as part consolidation, good quality of the formed parts etc. The main advantage is that the uniform pressure can be transferred to every where at the same time. Forming limit is the limit of the component up to that extent it can be formed safely. While analyzing hydroforming process, it is often assumed that the limit strains are identical as that of stamped sheet metal of equivalent material properties. It is not clear if such an assumption is valid. In this paper the forming limit strains during hydroforming is predicted. A series of tube bulge tests for tube hydroforming and limiting dome height test for sheet hydroforming and sheet stamping processes are simulated by a commercial finite element solver to predict the limit strains. Numerical simulation of forming limit strains in tube hydroforming with different internal pressure and different simulation set up with or without axial feeding, while in sheet hydroforming and sheet stamping, by changing the specimen geometry are considered to develop wide range of strain paths in the present work. The effects of process conditions on the forming limit strains are detailed. The comparison of limits strains during hydroforming and stamping processes is presented. Prediction of limits strains is based on a novel thickness based necking criterion.