FEM Analysis of Tube Preforming and Hydroforming Process for an Automotive Part

The tube hydroforming technology is used today in the mass production of lightweight components for the automotive industries due to its advantages over conventional stamping methods. A typical tube hydroforming process is usually a multiple forming operation process. The tube preforming and hydroforming process of an automobile subframe were analyzed by finite element method (FEM), and a parametric study was also carried out to obtain the effect of the forming parameters such as the die closing, the internal pressure and the axial feeding. The simulation results were also compared with industrial products in respect to the thickness distribution of some typical and key cross-sections. The study indicates that the internal pressure and the axial feeding should be set correctly and the multiple forming operations of tube hydroforming process can be simulated well by using the explicit code Ls-Dyna.