Determination of stress–strain relationship of tubular material with hydraulic bulge test

Based on the plastic membrane theory and force equilibrium equations, etc., a unique approach is proposed with the curve fitting of experimental data to determine the stress–strain relationship of a thin-walled tube in hydroforming process (THF). A simple and practical hydraulic bulge test tooling was developed and free-bulged tests were performed on stainless steel and low carbon steel tubes to obtain required experimental deformation data. Finite element (FE) simulations of the free bulges were carried out to verify the approach indirectly. The results indicate that the present approach is accurate and acceptable to define the stress–strain behavior of tubular material, and furthermore, an extended flow stress curve with large strain can be obtained by the approach.