Hydroforming is a forming technology in which a steel tube is fixed in a die and formed to fit a specified design shape by applying hydraulic pressure from inside the tube. In present study, the whole process of sub-frame side member development is presented by tube hydro-forming using steel material. At the part design stage, it requires feasibility study and process design aided by CAE (computer aided design) to confirm hydro-formability in details. Overall possibility of hydro-formable side member parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. All the components is designed and formability is examined from the point of geometry and thinning. From the simulation results, the maximum thickness reduction rate is 55% after hydroforming. In order to improve this result, the feeding by 30 mm is applied to the both sides of the tube and the thickness reduction can be reduced from this management.

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 sub-frame parts development by tube hydro-forming using steel material 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. Overall possibility of hydro-formable sub-frame parts could be examined by cross sectional analyses. All the components of prototyping tools are designed and interference with press is examined from the point of geometry and thinning.