Flow Stress Determination of Steel Tube for Hydroformability Evaluation

This study aims to determine flow stress of a steel tube by using hydraulic bulge test. A new proposed analytical model for analyzing bulge shapes of hydroformed tubes is postulated. Bulge test apparatus designed using FEA simulation of hydroforming and STKM 11A steel tubes are used in the hydraulic bulge test. Bulge heights and internal pressures are measured during bulge testing. Tube thicknesses at vertex of a bulge shape are measured by a dial caliper gauge. Bulge curvatures and contact points are measured by taking digital photos of bulge shapes combined with measurement methods in CAD software. Effective stress - strain relationships are obtained from the newly developed analytical model using those measured values. Flow stress curves obtained from the effective stress – strain relationships are compared with those by other researchers and tensile test. Finite element analysis methods are used to conduct simulation of tube hydroforming using the flow stress curves. Predicted internal pressures versus bulge heights and tube thicknesses are compared with experimental results. Verification of the developed analytical model is presented. The flow stress at neck point of formed tube is determined.