Experimental and FEM study on sinking of miniature inner grooved copper tube

Miniature inner grooved copper tubes (mIGCT) which have an outer diameter less than 6 mm are in demand for the production of heat pipes. In this work, it is proposed to manufacture such tubes by a multi-stage tube sinking process with an initial mIGCT having an outer diameter of 6 mm. A FEM simulation approach is used to analyze stress, strain and damage distribution for the proposed process. For comparison, a smooth copper tube is also used in the simulation study. Furthermore, experiments are conducted to investigate plastic deformation of the grooves and teeth of the tube. Results show that the maximum stress and strain are occurred at the grooves area, while the maximum damage is located at the top of the teeth. The ratio of groove width to tooth width (β) is reduced after each drawing pass. Bonding, folding and segmenting, which represent potential flaws, have also been observed in the multi-stage tube sinking process, and are discussed.