This paper considers the effect of hydroforming on the downstream crashworthiness for tubes. Three types of aluminum tubes were chosen as examples. Hydroforming will affect both strains and thickness of a tube, which will have opposite effects on the tubes mean crush load for crashworthiness. For hydroforming, the theoretical assumptions of no friction versus sticking friction will result in very different values for thickness, strains, stresses and mean loads when the corner radius is less than half the original tube radius. The theoretical effect on mean crush load can be as much as 25% different than without considering forming effects.
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