Investigation the possibility of producing a tractor's hood as integrate with hydroforming method

In this study the possibility of producing a part of tractor (tractor’s hood) with anisotropic low-carbon steel sheet, ST14, through hydroforming method has been investigated which was not possible through traditional deep-drawing method. It must be mentioned that this has been done both experimentally and through finite element simulation. Due to the shape of the work piece, two of them are placed beside each other to be formed through hydroforming process, then after producing they are cut into two separate halves. Because of the big size of the work piece, the smaller simulated scaled size has been used for doing the investigation. The simulation results were compared and validated to the experimental scaled work pieces. To reduce the production costs and increase the quality of manufactured pieces, the original dimensions of the blank optimized with sensitivity method at four stages. In addition, the influence of four pressure paths were examined on the quality of the produced pieces. The results show that through using optimal pressure paths and optimizing the shape of the sheet , the part can be produced with high quality and accuracy just in one stage.