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RESEARCH PRODUCT

An integrated approach to the design of tube hydroforming processes: artificial intelligence, numerical analysis and experimental investigation

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description

In the last years, the growing role of process flexibility in modern mechanical industries has driven a rising interest in optimisation of process/product design through innovative techniques. Moreover, the development of niche productions, which are characterised by low production volumes and small batches leads to the need of more flexible and rapid forming technologies. In this way, a great research effort is performed towards the study of new stamping processes: among them hydro forming finds a large interest in automotive industry since it allows to significantly reduce tooling costs and also to avoid some secondary operations. Different studies are available in the technical literature concerning the fundamentals of tube hydro forming processes as well as the industrial application of such operations. As process design issues are concerned, in the paper, the authors propose the integration of different tools, namely artificial intelligence techniques, numerical simulations and experimental knowledge...