• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.397-402
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• 2007

Application of hydroforming technology for Engine Cradle has done much to reduce the weight of it. In most cases, hydroformed member of Engine Cradle is made in one-piece. And this method cause a limeted design that amount of expansion at the center portion of the member is not enough to meet the required performance. This limited design leads to decrease the dynamic characteristics of Engine Cradle. In this paper, comparative analyses of conventional stamped engine cradle and hydroformed cradle of one-piece were conducted using Normal Mode analysis and FRF(Frequancy Response Function)analysis. Finally, to improve the disadvantage mentioned above, hydroformed member of 3-pieces was proposed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.571-575
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• 2008

An engine cradle is a quite important structural assembly for supporting the engine, suspension and steering parts of vehicle and absorbing the vibrations during the drive and the shock in the car crash. Recently, the engine cradle having structural stiffness enough to support the surrounding parts and absorbing the shock of collision has been widely used. The hydroforming technology may cause many advantages to automotive applications in terms of better structural integrity of parts, reduction of production cost, weight reduction, material saving, reduction in the number of joining processes and improvement of reliability. We focus on increasing the durability and the dynamic performance of engine cradle. For realizing this objective, several optimization design techniques such as shape, size, and topology optimization are performed. This optimization scheme based on the sensitivity can provide distinguished performance improvement in using hydroforming.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.249-253
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• 2003

In recent years, developments of light weight vehicle are one of the most important issues in automotive makers. New materials and new processes have been studied on the point of weight saving of chassis worldwide. Associated with materials, applications of high strength steel, aluminium, magnesium are being developed. On the point of new processes, tailored welded blank and hydroforming have been applied. In this paper, focusing to both material and process, we have applied hydroforming process to the engine cradle. In addition to that, three kinds of high strength steel have been applied to the development of light weight material for hydroforming. All the studies have been carried by FEM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.154-157
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• 2008

It is important to know the variations of the mechanical properties in the hydroforming process for the safe and durable design purposes. In this study, strain hardening behavior during hydroforming has been investigated by hydroforming of engine cradle as a model process. The variation of mechanical properties such as local hardness and flow stress were used as an index of strain hardening during respective processes. By using the inter-relationships between hardness-flow stress-effective strain at variable pre-strains, the strain hardening behavior during hydroforming has been successfully analyzed. The comparison of predicted hardness with measured hardness confirmed that the methodology used in this study was feasible and the strain hardening behavior can be quantitatively estimated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.354-357
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• 2001

In the present study, front lower arm and engine cradle which are automotive chassis parts were developed using the hydroforming technology. For systematic establishment of parts development process, material properties of tube were reflected at the start of design and problems of initial design drawing were solved by forming analysis. Design and manufacturing technology of hydroforming die were established and the relationship between internal pressure and feeding stroke was studied during try-out. Durability and buckling strength of hydrofromed parts were estimated.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.8 s.89
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• pp.568-573
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• 2006

In order to numerically evaluate automotive hydro-formed DP-steel tubes on crash performance considering welding heat effects, the finite element simulations of crash behavior were performed for hydro-formed tubes with and without heat treatment effects. This work involves the mechanical characterization of the base material and the HAG-welded zone as well as finite element simulations of the crash test of hydro-formed tubes with welded brackets and hydro-forming of tubes. The welding heat effects on the crash performance are evaluated in efforts to improve the process optimization procedure of the engine cradle in the design stage. In particular, FEM simulations on indentations have been performed and experimentally verified for material properties of weld zone and heat affected zone.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2008

Recently, the use of tubes in the manufacturing of the automobile parts has increased and therefore many automotive manufactures have tried to use hydro-forming technology. The hydro-forming technology may cause many advantages to automotive applications in terms of better structural integrity of the parts, lower cost from fewer part count, material saving, weight reduction, lower spring-back, improved strength and durability and design flexibility. In this study, the whole process of front engine cradle (or front sub-frame) parts development by tube hydro-forming using steel material having tensile strength of 440MPa grade is presented. At the part design stage, it requires feasibility study and process design aided by CAE (Computer Aided Design) to confirm hydro-formability in details. Effects of parameters such as internal pressure, axial feeding and geometry shape on automotive sub-frame by hydro-forming process were carefully investigated. Overall possibility of hydro-formable sub-frame parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. Moreover, it is essential to ensure the formability of tube material on every forming step such as pre-bending, preforming and hydro-forming. At the die design stage, all the components of prototyping tools are designed and interference with press is examined from the point of geometry and thinning.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.351-352
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.503-506
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• 2008

본 연구에서는 하이드로포밍 공정을 적용한 엔진크레들 제품에 대해 최종 제품의 강도를 평가하고자 하였다. 먼저 적용 판재인 370과 440 소재에 대해 인장시험을 수행하여 소재의 경도와 강도의 상관관계를 분석하여 경도와 강도의 변환식을 도출하였다. 그런 다음 예비굽힘, 예비성형, 최종성형된 제품의 각 공정에 따른 유효변형률을 측정하고 같은 위치에서의 경도를 측정하였다. 측정된 경도는 앞서 도출한 경도와 강도의 변환식에 대입하여 각 공정을 마친 제품의 강도를 예측하고 결국 하이드로포밍된 엔진 크레들 제품의 유효변형률에 따른 강도를 예측식을 실험으로 도출하였다. 그 결과 예비굽힘, 예비성형, 최종성형을 마친 엔진 크레들 제품에 대해 유효변형률이 $24{\sim}72%$로 변하였고 이때 HF370의 경우에는 유동응력값이 $375{\sim}500MPa$로 증가하여 원소재에 비해 성형 후 $25{\sim}66%$의 강도증가량을 보였고, HF440의 경우에는 $470{\sim}565MPa$로 증가하여, 원소재에 비해 $17{\sim}41%$로 강도가 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 이와 같은 변화값을 이용하여 유효변형률과 강도의 상관관계를 도출하였다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2009

The environment and energy related problem has become one of the most important global issues in recent years. One of the most effective ways of improving the fuel efficiency of automobiles is the weight reduction. In order to obtain this goal the hydroforming technology has been adapting for the high strength steel and its application is being widened. In present study, the chassis components (mainly cross members of engine cradle) simulation and development by hydroforming technology to apply high strength steel having tensile strength of 440 MPa grade is studied. In the part design stage, it requires feasibility study and process design aided by CAE (Computer Aided Design) to confirm hydroformability in details. Overall possibility of hydroformable chassis parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. Moreover, it is essential to ensure the formability of tube material on every forming step such as pre-bending, performing and hydroforming. In the die design stage, all the components of prototyping tool were designed and interference with press was investigated from the point of geometry and thinning.