Investigation of tube drawing with fixed plug process parameters through presenting a modified slab analysis with finite element verification

Different applications of thin-walled tube drawing process especially in case of manufacturing the medical apparatuses has caused that different aspects of this process have been investigated by many researchers. In this paper, considering the shear stress as well as the linear variation of normal stress in elements located in the deforming zone, an analytical solution based on the slab method is presented for tube drawing process with a fixed plug. The pressure on the die surface is assumed to be different from that one on the plug surface. Moreover, taking into account a thin-walled pipe, the plain strain condition is applied to the process. In order to verify the accuracy of analytical solution, the process is wholly simulated using ABAQUS/Explicit software. The results show that the drawing stress can be decreased through increasing the die angle or decreasing the plug angle. Moreover, the drawing stress decreases from inner surface of the wall toward the outer surface. In addition, the pressure on die-tube interface is more than that one on the plug-tube interface while the difference of these pressures be increased for greater die angle. The present closed form solution can be utilized as an efficient tool in the related industries to calculate the required tension stress in tube drawing process.