Loading path prediction for tube hydroforming process using a fuzzy control strategy

Tube hydroforming has recently drawn the attention of the automotive industries due to its several advantages over conventional forming methods. For a given blank tube and part design, the success of tube hydroforming process is highly dependent on the loading paths (axial feeding versus internal pressure). To obtain a part with the required shape and minimize the tube wall thickness variation during Tee extrusion tube hydroforming process, an adaptive simulation approach integrated with a fuzzy logic control algorithm is used in this paper. A necking indicator and a wrinkling indicator obtained from simulation results are used as the input of the fuzzy logic control, and the output sets of the fuzzy logic control are used for adjusting the loading path. In this way, a reasonable loading path for producing an acceptable Tee extrusion tube can be obtained, and its validity is verified by experiments. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.