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Technical Paper

Hot Forming of 7075 Aluminium Alloy Tubes to Produce Complex and Strong Components

2012-04-16
2012-01-0539
Lightweight tubular products offering enhanced stiffness and strength have always been of major concern for transportation and recreational applications. Hence, industries have turned to complex-shaped tubes to increase product performance and reduce energy costs. High-performance aluminum alloys, like 7075 for instance, have good mechanical properties such as high strength, but low formability at ambient temperature. Fortunately, hot tensile tests on 7075 samples have yielded an increase in formability with temperature. Therefore, testing has recently been launched at the Aluminum Technology Center to develop a new product application. More precisely, a 1,000-ton hydraulic press was equipped with +600°C heating plates and fitted with a bicycle handlebar mold. The plates provide 10 separate heating zones that can be adjusted independently. A thermo-mechanical model was also developed using LS-DYNA to determine tube temperatures around the heating zones.
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