Abstract
The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the optimal shape of brake tube-end for automobiles using the DEFORM^<TM>-3D, commercially available finite element code and the experimental tests. Actually, an explicit finite element simulation for axisymmetric tube-end forming processes has been carried out to predict the optimal shape of the brake tube-end. The shape of the brake tube-end is in agreement with the finite element simulations and the experimental results. Summaries of the present study are as follows : (1) The stress which the material is receives is small when the stroke of the first punch is the 2mm. But after the second forming, the stress was concentrated so that it was different from the shape of product to be desired.(2) The stress which the material is receives becomes bigger when the stroke of the first punch is 2.5mm and the non-uniform stresses happened at the outside of forming part.(3) The distribution of the stress is uniform when the stroke of the first punch is 3mm. Also we could get similar shape most with the shape of the real brake tube-end.(4) After the simulation of the open-die forging process using the rigid-plastic FEM, it was possible to predict the weak part of the die and the material and its results were reflected in the die design, and finally a product of good quality can be obtained.
