Study of the Forming Process of Thin-Walled 5A02 Aluminum Alloy T-Tube Formed by Rotary Drawing Type Without Mold

To address the issues of low efficiency and poor reliability associated with current manufacturing processes like welding for T-shaped tubes in aircraft, this study proposes a die-less rotary drawing forming process for T-shaped tubes. Finite element simulations combined with experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of four key process parameters-pre-hole size, preheating temperature, feed rate, and rotary drawing speed-on the rotary drawing forming of thin-walled 5A02 aluminum alloy T-shaped tubes. Variations in the effective branch height and wall thickness reduction ratio under different combinations of process parameters were explored. The optimal combination of process parameters was determined based on simulated orthogonal experiments. The optimized results were experimentally validated, and their pressure resistance limit was analyzed through pressure tests. Finally, the microstructural changes in the rotary-drawn material were analyzed using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) tests. The results demonstrate that the proposed die-less rotary drawing forming process enables the local integrated forming of thin-walled 5A02 aluminum alloy T-shaped tubes. A branch height exceeding 3.5 mm and a maximum wall thickness reduction ratio of approximately 18% were achieved. The pressure withstand limit reaches 7 MPa, satisfying the engineering requirement of 6.4 MPa.