Investigation of the effect of loading path and variation in material properties on robustness of the tube hydroforming process

In this paper, effect of loading path and variation in material properties on the robustness of the tube hydroforming process and final part requirements (i.e. thickness specifications) were studied experimentally and computationally. Small and simple tube hydroforming parts were used in the FE analysis to obtain some guidelines on the use of different loading path schemes. Developed guidelines, then, were applied experimentally on a production scale automotive structural frame part. Results emphasized the importance of the loading path design once more whereas variation of mechanical properties of incoming tubing within the experimented range was not found to be significantly effective on the final part specifications.