Mechanism of improvement of formability in pulsating hydroforming of tubes

The mechanism of improvement of formability by the oscillation of internal pressure in a pulsating hydroforming process of tubes was examined. Free bulging hydroforming experiments of mild steel tubes under oscillating and constant inner pressures were performed. For a high constant pressure, a round bulge with local thinning was observed, whereas wrinkling occurred for a low constant pressure. The occurrence of these defects was prevented by oscillating the internal pressure in the pulsating hydroforming. In the pulsating hydroforming, a uniform expansion in the bulging region was obtained, and thus the formability was improved by preventing the local thinning. It was found from an observation of deformation behaviour, using a video camera, that the tube is uniformly expanded by repeating the appearance and disappearance of small wrinkling. The cause of the uniform expansion for the pulsating hydroforming was also interpreted from the variation of stress components. In addition, a similar deference in deformation behaviour between the oscillating and constant inner pressures was also obtained in finite element simulation.