Manufacturing of a wire-reinforced aluminum tube via hydroforming process

Aluminum composites have been widely used in a variety of applications requiring high strength levels and low weights. This paper proposes an innovative hydroforming process for the manufacturing of wire-reinforced aluminum tubes. To characterize the proposed hydroforming process for the manufacturing of wire-reinforced tubes (WRTs), a finite element (FE) analysis was conducted with various combinations of wires. The reinforcement effects of the WRT were verified according to the number of reinforcing wires and their diameters. Based on the equivalent plastic strain and tube wall thickness values of the inner tube as derived via the FE analysis, appropriate loading paths for hydroforming experiments were derived according to various combinations of reinforcing wires. Through hydroforming experiments, WRTs without process-induced defects such as insufficient bulging, wire buckling, and tube bursting were successfully obtained. To estimate the mechanical performance of the WRT when under a load, the structural strength was experimentally evaluated through a lateral three-point bending test. The measured structural strength values demonstrate the superior reliability and applicability of the WRT manufactured in this study.