Optimization of die geometry for tube channel pressing

Since tubes have numerous industrial applications, different attempts are focused on the severe plastic deformation processes of tubes. As an illustration, tube channel pressing (TCP) is an attractive process for this purpose since it can be used for processing of different sizes of tubes. However, more attempts are needed to improve the outcomes of TCP. For example, imposing of a greater strain besides reductions of the strain heterogeneity are the challenges of this process. This work is aimed to optimize the die geometry of TCP through a finite element simulation procedure verified by experiments in order to increase the imposed strain as well as to decrease the strain heterogeneity. Results show that the increase of die curvature radius causes decrease of imposed plastic strain and increase of strain heterogeneity. In addition, the minimum amount of die convex height for imposing of a reasonable strain through TCP is calculated considering the tube thickness and the channel angle. Besides this, the optimum die geometry is recommended in order to minimize the strain heterogeneity.