The Bulge of Tubes and a Failure Criterion for Tube Hydroforming

The bulge test in hydroforming is a simple fundamental experiment used to obtain basic knowledge in tube expansion. The results can be used to assist design and manufacturing of hydroformed automotive parts. It also can be used to develop a failure criterion for tubes in hydroforming. For these purposes, a section of a long unsupported tube with fixed ends was simulated numerically to obtain the mechanical states of the tube subjected to internal pressure. Steel and aluminum tubes are used. For the bulge tests, the internal pressure reaches a maximum and then decreases in value without failure while the stress, strain and volume of the tube keep increasing. A failure criterion for the bursting of a tube is proposed based on the stress-strain curve of the material. For the steel and aluminum tubes used in this paper, the bursting diameters of the tubes are very close to their corresponding failure diameters obtained based on the conventional forming limit diagrams used in sheet metal forming.