Reliability Based Design Optimisation of Hydroformed Welded Tubes

This paper presents an experimental/numerical methodology which aims to improve 3D welded tube considering their anisotropic effect, geometrical singularities found in the welded joint, and heat affected zone behaviour by hydroforming process. This process contributes to reduce the number of welding and assembly operations needed to generate complex structures, while improving the weight saving and quality of finished parts. In spite of the advances in the performance of this manufacturing technology, some problems are linked to particularities of certain raw materials and additional studies must be developed, like in the case of welded tubes. The experimental study is dedicated to the identification of stress-strain flow of the base metal and the heat-affected zone from the global measure of tube displacement, thickness evolution and internal pressure expansion. Nanoindentation test is adapted to investigate the heat affected zone mechanical behaviour. Workpiece behaviour's models used to simulate the expansion tests, made it possible to highlight the combined effects of the inhomogeneous behaviour of basic material and heat affected zone, as well as the geometrical singularities found in the welded tubes. From the simulations carried out, it is clear the influence of the plastic flow behaviour of the welded tube in the final results (thickness distribution, stress instability, tube circularity, critical thinning and rupture).