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Preform Shape Design in Tube Hydroforming Process

Using Equi-Potential Line Method
a a a a
S. A. Tabatabaei , G. Faraji , M. Mosavi Mashadi , M. Shariat Panahi , S. M. Tabatabaee
b c
& R. Bagheri Ghahvechi
a
Mechanical Engineering Department , University of Tehran , Tehran , Iran
b
Electrical Engineering Department , Iran University of Science & Technology , Tehran , Iran
c
Department of Engineering , Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch , Tehran , Iran
Accepted author version posted online: 16 Jul 2012.Published online: 07 Mar 2013.

To cite this article: S. A. Tabatabaei , G. Faraji , M. Mosavi Mashadi , M. Shariat Panahi , S. M. Tabatabaee & R. Bagheri
Ghahvechi (2013) Preform Shape Design in Tube Hydroforming Process Using Equi-Potential Line Method, Materials and
Manufacturing Processes, 28:3, 260-264, DOI: 10.1080/10426914.2012.667892

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 Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 28: 260–264, 2013
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1042-6914 print=1532-2475 online
DOI: 10.1080/10426914.2012.667892

Preform Shape Design in Tube Hydroforming Process Using

Equi-Potential Line Method
S. A. Tabatabaei1, G. Faraji1, M. Mosavi Mashadi1, M. Shariat Panahi1, S. M. Tabatabaee2, and
R. Bagheri Ghahvechi3
1
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2
Electrical Engineering Department, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
3
Department of Engineering, Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

The quality of a tube-hydroformed component and the tooling cost and processing time involved in the process are notably affected by the
component’s preform. Hence, it is necessary to produce a proper preform shape for the successful hydroforming from the initial tube to final
shape. In this article, a new technique based on the equi-potential line (EPL) designed in the electric field was used for the first time to find an
Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 15:40 21 December 2014

appropriate preform shape in THF (Tube Hydroforming) process. The equi-potential line generated between two conductors of different
voltages show similar trends for minimum work path between the initial and final shapes. Based on this similarity, the equi-potential line
obtained by arrangement of the initial tube and final die was used for preform design. The finite element (FE) method was employed to find
the forming pressure to form the preform shape in the die cavity, and then the effectiveness of this method was compared with previous
methods. It was shown that the new method was simpler and more accurate than the other methods in finding the preform shape. Finally,
experimental tests were carried out to verify the FE results. For this, a tube inside the square die was considered and its preform shape was
extracted from EPL method, then its forming pressure from finite element modeling was used in a THF process. From the results, the pre-
diction of the preform shape by using the EPL method demonstrated to be reasonable. In addition, there was an acceptable agreement
between experimental and FE results. As a result, this approach can be extended to a wide range of practicable tube hydroforming processes.

Keywords EPL; Experiment; FEM; Preform; THF.

INTRODUCTION The preform design by the rigid-plastic finite element

The tube hydroforming (THF) process is a new manu-
facturing technology which has been widely used in the
automotive industry. In the tube hydroforming, it is
required that the final product be produced without
any kind of defects such as bursting, wrinkling or buck-
ling [1]. Selection of proper preform shape, reasonable
combination of the internal pressure, and axial feeding
are important factors in the successful THF process.
Hence, it is essential how to produce a suitable inter-
mediate preform shape for the enhancement of formabil-
ity from a tubular blank. Preform design in the THF
shows the design of an intermediate shape between
initial tube and final product, and it can help to fabricate
the hydroforming part without defects and excessive loss
of material. Therefore, a suitable preform can reduce
production cost, and it is an essential guideline for
successful hydroforming. From our investigation, for
preform shape design in the THF process a straightfor-
ward and simple way has not been introduced.
Generally, the preform design in hydroforming
was mainly carried out through the trial-and-error
approach [2, 3].
Received July 29, 2011; Accepted August 6, 2011
Address correspondence to S. A. Tabatabaei, Mechanical Engin-
eering Department, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; E-mail:
S.A.Tabatabaei@ut.ac.ir
method was used by Park et al.[4], in which a new concept
called the backward tracing scheme was introduced and
applied to shell nosing as a two-dimensional plane-strain
problem. Kang et al. [5] applied its three-dimensional
scheme for the first time to the preform design in ring
rolling process. Since then, the scheme has been used in
various kinds of metal forming processes such as upset-
ting, coining, piercing, and stamping [6].
In this article, the notion of equi-potential lines is
applied to preform design in the THF process for the
first time. The notion was initially introduced by Lee
et al. [7] in the forging process. They used the EPLs
concept to find the preform shape between the initial
and the final shape and considered the potential value
of the electric field, initial volume, shape complexity of
the final product, and filling ratio as design parameters.
They also determined the valid EPLs as preform shapes
by considering the proposed filling ratio, and used an
ANN approximation to find the proper values of such
parameters as electric potential, initial volume, and
shape complexity. However, they did not discuss the
possibility of applying EPLs to other forming methods
such as THF. Wang and Li [8] used EPLs to design a
preform for a P=M super alloy disk. Their work, how-
ever, was limited to two-dimensional, mostly axisym-
metric cases and the EPLs were located outside of
forging which led to great difficulties to obtain the actual
dimension of the preform.

260
 PREFORM SHAPE DESIGN
In this study, the determined preform from EPL
method was expanded into the inner section of the die
to predict the forming pressure. In the following, the
effectiveness of this method in preform shape design
was compared with other methods. Finally, the EPL
method was used for experimentally THF of an
annealed brass C272000 inside the square die. The main
advantage of the applied method in THF is that it is
more accurate and simpler than the other methods in
finding the preform shape [9, 10]. Additionally, it can
be used for preform design in complex or asymmetrical
configurations.
THEORY
According to the basic principle of electrical analogy,
when the physical object, like force field, magnetic field,
or thermal flow field, has the same field equation in form
as the electrostatic field equation, it can be simulated in
the same way as the electrostatic field. If the material
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volume remains constant and the velocity field is non-
spinning, the following equations hold true [8]:
@2u @2u @2u
r2 / ¼ þ þ ¼0 ð1Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23
where u is a velocity potential function of movement or
strain, and xi (i ¼ 1, 2, 3) is the coordinates. According to
basic electrostatic fields, the potential value / at a point
in the electrostatic field satisfies the Poisson’s equation:
@ 2 / @ 2 / @ 2 /
q
r2 / ¼ þ þ ¼ ð2Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23 e0
where q is the charge density and E0 is the dielectric
constant. If there is no charge, the governing equation
is represented by Laplace’s equation:
@2/ @2/ @2/
r2 / ¼ þ þ ¼0 ð3Þ
@x21 @x22 @x23
The development of the initial preform throughout
the shaping process could be described by EPLs similar
to those in an electrostatic field [8].
In the THF process, the tube is formed in the die cav-
ity, thus the forming path is from outer side of the tube
to the inner side of the die. Therefore, it was supposed
that the tube was inserted inside the die cavity and volt-
age 0, and 1 were exerted to the outer side of the tube
and inner side of the die, respectively. Then the
Laplace’s equation was solved (by using finite element
or finite difference method) between the two conductors
(outer side of the tube and inner side of the die) and
points with equal voltages were connected to create a
contour shape. On the other hand, the contour repre-
sented the points around the tube with equal voltage,
which was an intermediate shape between the initial tube
and final die. In this article, Mtalab code and finite
element method was used for solving the Laplace’s equa-
tion and drawing the equi-potential lines.
261
FINITE ELEMENT MODELING (FEM)
The preforms designed in a previous stage were mod-
eled in a commercial FEM software. Due to symmetry,
only a quarter of the work piece was modeled. The simu-
lations were performed using 3D models in which the
geometrical dimensions and mechanical properties of
specimens were the same as those of the experiment,
making it possible to compare the simulation results with
those obtained experimentally. To mesh the parts 4-node
shell elements (S4 R) were used for deformable materials
(tube) and 4-node 3-D bilinear rigid elements (R3D4) for
rigid materials (dies).
The coulomb friction and penalty method was con-
sidered to model the contact between the die and the
specimens. The friction coefficient was considered as
0.05 [11].
During the FEM and THF processes, the final pro-
duct should be produced without any kind of defects
such as bursting, wrinkling, or buckling. In addition,
the thinning criterion should be satisfied in final product.
From the engineering vision, thickness reduction in the
final product should not exceed 40% of the initial tube
thickness [12]. By considering all the criteria, the cali-
bration pressures during FE simulations were obtained
as 12 and 16 (MPa). The first pressure formed the initial
tube inside the preform die and the 16 (MPa) pressure
calibrated the pre-formed tube inside the square die.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
To validate the results of the FE model, an experiment
was carried out for a particular case in which a
22  0.5 mm round C272000 annealed brass tube with
the mechanical properties of Table. 1, was formed in a
square AISI 420 die of 22 mm side and 2 mm corner
radii, hardened to 45 HRC and lubricated with a mix-
ture of oil and water.
The stress-strain curve of annealed brass C272000,
obtained from a tensile test based on ASTM-E8 stan-
dard, is shown in Fig. 1. The tube material was modeled
as r ¼ KEn in which K and n are strength coefficient and
strain hardening exponent, respectively (Table 1).
During the experimental procedure, two different dies
were used. The first die was a die with the shape of the
preform (extracted from EPL method), and the second
die was as the final shape.
RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION
Figure 2 shows the application of the EPL method in
preform shape design for a variety of dies. The preform
shapes were considered as a contour with 0.5(V) between
the zero voltage of the initial tube and 1(V) of the final
TABLE 1.—Mechanical properties of the tube material.
Modulus Poison’s Ultimate tensile K
of elasticity ratio Density strength (MPa) n
105 GPa 0.30 8200 Kg=m3 170 MPa 298.6 0.2114
 262 S. A. TABATABAEI ET AL.

FIGURE 3.—Configuration of the tube inside the die cavity [10].

should be used in that part of the tube and die. From

section B–B point of view, the problem is to find the pre-
form shape of a tube (with 35 mm outer diameter) inside
the square die (with the 36 mm height).By using the EPL
method and exerting the 0(V) to the outer side of the
tube and 1(V) to the inner side of the die, and solving
the Laplace’s equation, the preform shape was obtained
as shown in Fig. 4a. Moreover, Fig. 4 illustrates the
FIGURE 1.—The experimental stress-strain curve for the C272000 material
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results of the EPL (Equi-Potential Line) and BT

(color figure available online).
(Backward Tracing) methods in finding the preform
shape (of the Fig. 3 configuration).
shape. As shown in Fig. 2, the preform shape follows the As can be seen, the form resulting from the backward
die curvature. tracing method (Fig. 4b), there are no noticeable
In addition, the proposed method has a great capa-
bility in finding the preform shapes in asymmetrical or
complex features (Fig. 2d, e).

Comparison of the Equi-Potential Line Method with the

Prevoius Methods
To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed
method, it was necessary to compare the results of the
EPL method in finding the proper preform shape with
the previous methods. A great portion of the published
articles in the field of preform shape design and especially
in the THF process are dedicated to the backward tracing
method [9, 10]. Hence, in this section, the result of the
EPL method was compared with that of backward
tracing. For this, the configuration in Fig. 3 from Kim
et al. [10] was considered.
In Fig. 3, the dominant cross section variation of the
final product occurs from O–C, thus the EPL method

FIGURE 2.—EPL between initial tube and final shape. (a) Square die; (b) FIGURE 4.—Results of the EPL (Equi-Potential Line) and BT (Backward
equilateral triangle die; (c) trapezoidal die; (d) asymmetrical die; (e) com- Tracing) methods in finding the preform shape of Fig. 3. (a) EPL method;
plex die (color figure available online). (b) BT method [10] (color figure available online).
 PREFORM SHAPE DESIGN
changes in the tube cross section in the longitudinal
direction. However, by using the EPL method (Fig. 4a),
the precise preform shape has been obtained. This indi-
cates that EPL results in more accurate preform designs
compared to the backward tracing method. It should
also be noted that, unlike the BT method, the EPL
method does not need to calculate the displacement vec-
tor at each time increment and the boundary conditions
remain the same throughout the design process. The
only defined boundary condition is the voltages of 0, 1
that remain constant during the design process. This is
to say that the proposed method is not time dependent
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FIGURE 5.—(a) Isometric view of mesh configuration of initial tube inside
the preform die; (b) Preform shape between initial tube and square die (for
‘‘Experimental Procedure’’configuration), deformation shapes from the
FE simulations; (c) Initial tube inside the preform die; (d) pre-formed tube
inside the square die; and (e) corner radius of the final product (color
figure available online).
263
and this makes the application of the method to the
problem of preform design quite straightforward [9,
10]. Moreover, the EPL method can be used for preform
design in asymmetrical or complex shapes (Fig. 2).
Results of Actual THF Process
The mesh configuration of the initial tube inside the
preform die in FE modeling is shown in Fig. 5a in iso-
metric view. In this section, to facilitate viewing of
the hydroformed parts, the cross section shapes of the
deformed tubes are shown in 2-D view. Although the
effectiveness of the EPL method was demonstrated in
‘‘Comparison of the Equi-Potential Line Method with
the Prevoius Methods,’’ it was necessary to evaluate its
application in actual THF process. For this, the ‘‘Experi-
mental Procedure’’ configuration was supposed, and the
preform shape was drawn by solving the Laplace’s equa-
tion. Figure 5b shows the constructed preform shape
between the initial tube and final die. Moreover, FEM
results of the THF process are shown in Fig. 5c–e.
Figure 5c shows the deformation shape of the tube inside
the preform die with the 12 (MPa) forming pressure, and
Fig. 5d illustrates the final product after hydroforming
the pre-formed tube with 16 (MPa) pressure. The corner
radius of the final product is shown in Fig. 5e.
FIGURE 6.—(a) Initial tube; (b) pre-formed tube; (c) final shape (color
figure available online).
 264
FIGURE 7.—Wall thickness in final product (from A to B) (color figure
available online).
Figure 6 shows the initial and hydroformed tubes
resulted from the experiments.
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Figure 7 shows the wall thickness in final product for
both FE and experimental results. The final corner radii
from the analysis and the experiment were 4.75 mm and
5.1 mm, respectively, indicating 7% deviation.
Moreover, wall thinning was predicted by FEM at
35% compared to the 35.6% from experiment, indicating
a less than 2% deviation. Tube thinning could be seen in
the previous works such as tube bulging [14] and metal
bellows forming process [15].This fairly close correlation
further supports our decision to use the shell elements to
model the work piece. It can be concluded that there is
an acceptable agreement between the FE and experi-
mental results for the applied method in this article.
Therefore, the EPL method can be used for predicting
the preform shape in the THF process, effectively.
CONCLUSION
A new method for predicting the preform shapes in
THF based on the notion of equi-potential lines imple-
mented in the context of a comprehensive FE model
was proposed. The main advantage of the proposed
method is that it is not limited to symmetric or simple
preform shapes. It also enjoys the accuracy of the FE
method (instead of the less-accurate finite difference
method) in solving the Laplace’s equation; hence, it can
easily follow the curves of the die geometry. The method
was shown to outperform other methods in terms of sim-
plicity and lower computational cost. It offers a fast and
reliable tool for preform design in real-world THF prob-
lems, and can be applied to various combinations of
tube=die configurations and even extended to 3-D cases.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
S. A. Tabatabaei would like to acknowledge the helpful
discussions of this work with Dr. Seok Ryul from Korea.
S. A. TABATABAEI ET AL.
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