Experimental and numerical investigation of an adaptive simulated annealing technique in optimization of warm tube hydroforming

Abstract

Simulated annealing technique – which has attracted significant attention as being suitable for combinatorial optimization problems – has been used in many engineering applications. In current research, this method is used in optimization of a complicated forming process. Warm tube hydroforming is a new technology in the forming of lightweight aluminum and magnesium alloys in automotive, electronics and leisure industries. Owing to the complex nature of this process at high temperatures, and difficulty of obtaining the optimized forming conditions, this process has not received the credit it deserves yet. A new method for optimization of the warm tube hydroforming process is developed by using the simulated annealing algorithm with a novel adaptive annealing schedule. The optimal pressure loading paths are obtained for AA6061 aluminum alloy tubes with different wall thicknesses and corner fillets. The results obtained by simulated annealing technique are verified numerically and experimentally.