Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Local Lateral Compression Process of Metal Tubes between Cylindrical Shaped Dies

Metal tubes are widely used in various forms in engineering structures. Local deformation of the tube is required due to design considerations or the tube's location in the machine or structure to facilitate its installation. This paper investigates the process of locally laterally compressing aluminum tubes using experimental and numerical simulation methods. The tube is positioned horizontally on the fixed lower die and is subjected to compressive load by the upper die, which is connected to the movable ram of the press machine, resulting in plastic deformation. Both upper and lower dies are semi-cylindrical with equal radii, and their axes are perpendicular to the tube's axis. For the experimental and numerical analysis, two types of aluminum 6061-T6 tubes with the same outer diameter but different inner diameters were chosen, and three similar samples were created for each type. The true stress behavior, based on the true strain of the aluminum material, was determined from a simple tensile test. Subsequently, the geometric dimensions of the deformed area of the tubes were measured for various press strokes. The geometric shape of the deformation zone and the experimental forming load data were compared with the simulation results obtained using ABAQUS software. A comparison between the results from the two experimental and simulation methods demonstrated good agreement.