Key Engineering Materials Vols.

622-623 (2014) pp 731-738

Online available since 2014/Sep/26 at www.scientific.net
© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.622-623.731

Production of special tubes with a variety cross-sectional shapes by

bunch drawing and fluid-mandrel drawing

Kazunari Yoshida1,a , Daichi Yokomizo2,b and Takaaki Komatsu3

1
Dept. of Precision Engineering, School of Engineering, Tokai University
12
4-1-1 Kitakaname, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, 259-1292, Japan
23
Dept. Graduated Student, Tokai University
a
yoshida@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp, b3bmkm061@mail.tokai-u.jp

Keywords: Bunch drawing, Fluid-mandrel drawing, Special tube, Fine medical needle

Abstract. Recently, special tubes for high efficiency heat exchangers, high functionality electrodes,
and super-micro medical needles have attracted attention. In order to produce such special tubes,
however, a special processing method or tool is required.
In this study, fabrication of special tube by bunch drawing and fluid-mandrel drawing were
attempted. And it was revealed that the fabrication of special tubes with a variety of cross-sectional
shape is possible, when a bunch of tubes, or a tube of large diameter in which a number of fine
tubes are inserted, is drawn.
Presumption of cross-sectional shapes after bunch drawing was examined by FE analysis.
Cross-sectional shapes and the distribution of Vickers hardness which has relation to equivalent
strain were compared between tubes obtained virtually by FE analysis and fabricated actually in this
study. It was found that they correspond very well and FE analysis is useful for the presumption of
cross-sectional shapes after bunch drawing.
Meanwhile, downsizing of medical needles and heat exchanger tubes has been required from
the market. So it is necessary to fabricate an inner-grooved fine tube with thin wall-thickness, and at
that time the inner grooved geometry must be homothetic.
Hollow sinking was carried out to reduce the diameter of a tube. And cross-sectional shape,
groove geometry, and the change of wall thickness after processing were examined. In hollow
sinking, increase of wall-thickness, change of inner groove geometry, and poor inner surface quality
were found.
Therefore, newly-devised fluid-mandrel drawing was applied. And it was revealed that it is
possible to obtain an inner grooved tube of which groove shape is nearly similar to that of
pre-processed tube, even after the processing of diameter reduction. Also, it was clarified that the
production of a medical painless needle of 0.2mm in diameter by fluid-mandrel drawing was
possible.
Introduction
Recently, grooved tubes and tubes with special cross-sectional shapes (collectively called special
tubes) used for high-efficiency heat exchangers and electrodes with advanced functions as well as
ultrafine hypodermic needles that can suppress puncture pain have been attracting attention and
have been increasingly demanded [1]. The fabrication of such special tubes with various
cross-sectional shapes of hollow parts requires special machining methods and tools.
From the market’s needs, special tubes used as hypodermic needles should be fabricated at a low
cost, have an ultrafine diameter and thin walls, and exhibit good surface properties.
In this study, we fabricated special tubes by bunch drawing and fluid-mandrel drawing. For the
special tubes obtained by bunch drawing, the deformation behavior of their cross sections was
examined experimentally. We also examined whether the cross-sectional shape of the special tubes
obtained by bunch drawing can be predicted by finite element analysis (FEA).
In fluid-mandrel drawing, tubes can be drawn while maintaining a high degree of similarity in
their cross-sectional shape [2]. For special tubes obtained by this drawing method, the

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,
www.ttp.net. (ID: 128.178.131.113, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland-22/03/15,20:22:30)
732 Metal Forming 2014

cross-sectional shape of grooves on the inner surface of the drawn tubes and the changes in the wall
thickness were examined. We also discussed whether ultrafine tubes of 0.2 mm outer diameter used
for ultrafine hypodermic needles can be fabricated by sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing.

Specimens and drawing conditions in experiments and FEA

In this study, three types of tube were used as specimens. Phosphorus-deoxidized copper tubes
were subjected to bunch drawing, and internally grooved oxygen-free copper tubes and SUS304
tubes were subjected to fluid-mandrel drawing. Table 1 shows a summary of the dimensions of
these tubes.
Table 1 Materials and dimensions of specimens
Outer diameter Wall thickness Number of grooves Groove depth
Phosphorus-deoxidized
Copper tube 8.9mm 0.5mm
Oxygen-free copper tube 6.0mm 0.325mm 55 0.25mm
SUS304 tube 1.27mm 0.146mm

In the experiment, a carbide conical die and a diamond die were used. Moreover, an aqueous
lubricant was used for the copper tubes, whereas a Teflon resin lubricant was used for the SUS304
tube.
In fluid-mandrel drawing, a tube to be drawn was filled with water, which is environmentally
friendly, and both ends of the tube were closed using stoppers, thus enabling the water to serve as a
mandrel. Fig. 1 shoes a schematic of bunch drawing.
Inserted tube Outer tube
α

d0 d1,dn
Fig. 1 Schematic of bunch drawing
The reduction in the outer diameter per pass (R/P) and the total reduction in the outer diameter
(Rt) show Eq. 1 and Eq. 2.
𝑑
R/P = [1 − (𝑑1 )] × 100[%]. (1)
0

𝑑
Rt = [1 − (𝑑𝑛)] × 100[%]. (2)
0
o
The bunch drawing conditions were as follows: die half-angle, α = 6 ; R/P = 10%. In the
experiment, the drawing speed was 500 mm/min.
In the thinning of the internally grooved tubes and the fabrication of fine tubes used for ultrafine
hypodermic needles, sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing were performed at α = 6o, R/P = 5 or 8%,
and a drawing speed of 500 mm/min. The wall thickness and shape of the grooves on the inner
surface of the drawn tubes were compared.
FEA was carried out using the general-purpose analysis software MSC.Marc. Table 2 shows a
summary of the FEA conditions and material constants used.

Table 2 FEA conditions and material constants

Materials JISH3300-C1220 SUS304 FEA conditions
Young’s modulus 128GP 197GPa Number of nodes 34230
Poisson ratio a0.343 0.28 Number of time increments 0.1
Work hardening coefficient 345ε MPa 1380𝜀 MPa Used elements Solid
Friction coefficient 0.05 0.05
 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 622-623 733

And Figure 2 shows the FEA models.

Die α
Tube

Drawing direction
Cross-sectional shape

a) Bunch drawing b) Sinking(6 passes)

Fig. 2 FEA models of drawing method

Fabrication of special tubes by bunch drawing

The bunch drawing of a tube with three thin tubes inserted was simulated by FEA to examine
whether the cross-sectional shape of the bunch-drawn tube can be predicted by FEA. Figure 3
shows the cross-sectional shapes of a special tube obtained by repeating bunch drawing in FEA and
experimentally. Here, a phosphorus-deoxidized copper tube with an outer diameter of 8.9 mm and a
wall thickness of 0.5 mm was used as the outer tube, into which three thin tubes with an outer
diameter of 3.6 mm and a wall thickness of 0.5 mm were inserted. The obtained tube was used as
the mother tube; it was annealed at 400 oC and subjected to bunch drawing at α = 6o and R/P = 10%
for three passes (Rt = 28%).

Fig. 3 Prediction of cross-sectional shapes of repeatedly bunch-drawn tube by FEA

The inserted thin tubes deformed into an ellipse after the first pass of bunch drawing, and then
into a sector with a central angle of 120o after three passes. The experimental and FEA results were
in good agreement, indicating that the cross-sectional shape of repeatedly bunch-drawn tubes can be
predicted by FEA.

Thinning of internally grooved tubes by sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing

Internally grooved tubes were subjected to sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing, in which a fluid
fills a closed tube and serves as a mandrel, to examine the changes in the shape of the grooves on
the inner surface of the tubes. The mother tube was an annealed internally grooved oxygen-free
copper tube with an outer diameter of 6.0 mm, a wall thickness of 0.325 mm, and a groove depth of
0.25 mm. Sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing were performed at α = 6o and R/P = 5% for three
passes.
734 Metal Forming 2014

In fluid-mandrel drawing (Fig. 4), a tube to be drawn is filled with a fluid and its both ends are
closed using aluminum stoppers. While the tube is being drawn, fluid pressure is generated in the
tube, which suppresses an increase in the wall thickness of the tube and prevents the deterioration of
the surface properties. In addition, fluid-mandrel drawing enables grooved tubes to be thinned while
maintaining a high degree of similarity in the groove shape.

Stopper Stopper
α

d0 Fluid (water) d1,dn

Fig. 4 Schematic of Fluid-mandrel drawing

Figure 5 shows images of the cross section of the mother tube and the tubes obtained by sinking and
fluid-mandrel drawing.

1.5mm 1.5mm 1.5mm

Mother tube Sinking Fluid-mandrel drawing

φ6.0mm 3Pass φ5.1mm 3Pass φ5.1mm
Fig. 5 Cross-sectional shapes of mother tube and tubes
obtained after sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing

Figure 6 shows enlarged images of the wall of the mother tube and the internally grooved tubes
obtained after three passes of sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing.

200μm a) Mother tube

Outer diameter[mm] φ6.0
Wall thickness[mm] 0.325
Groove depth[mm] 0.25
200μm b) Sinking(R/P=15%)
Outer diameter[mm] φ5.1
Wall thickness[mm] 0.34
Groove depth[mm] 0.22
200μm c) Fluid-mandrel drawing(R/P=15%)
Outer diameter[mm] φ5.1
Wall thickness[mm] 0.3
Groove depth[mm] 0.23
Fig. 6 Changes in shape of grooves on inner surface of mother tube and tubes obtained after
sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing
The shapes of the grooves on the inner surface of the tubes were compared as follows. For the
tube obtained by sinking, the wall thickness slightly increased and the groove width became smaller
than that of the mother tube. When sinking is repeated, the wall thickness further increased and the
 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 622-623 735

groove depth decreased. In contrast, for the tube obtained by fluid-mandrel drawing, the wall
thickness decreased and the groove depth also decreased slightly, but the groove width was almost
unchanged.
The above results indicate that the internally grooved tube can be thinned by fluid-mandrel
drawing, while maintaining a high degree of similarity for the cross-sectional shape of the tube.

Fabrication of ultrafine tubes used for ultrafine hypodermic needles by fluid-mandrel

drawing
In line with the advancement of medical engineering, ultrafine hypodermic needles that can meet
various requirements, such as painless puncture, high rigidity, and low pressure loss, have been
demanded. Although practical tubes (34 G) with an outer diameter of 0.18 mm and an inner
diameter of 0.08 mm manufactured by a special raising technique are currently available, problems
related to cost effectiveness and mass production still remain.
Fine tubes used for hypodermic needles are manufactured by repeatedly drawing circular tubes
(mother tubes) that are obtained by bending and welding mother plates [3].
There are several drawing methods of thinning tubes, as shown in Fig. 7 [4]. Sinking has
disadvantages of an increased wall thickness of the drawn tubes and the deterioration of their inner
surface properties. On the other hand, rod drawing, float plug drawing, and mandrel drawing cannot
be used to fabricate ultrafine tubes. Thus, these conventional drawing methods are insufficient to
fabricate tubes that meet the required standards of hypodermic needles in terms of wall thickness
and inner surface properties.

α Die Rod

Support
a) Sinking b) Rod drawing

Float plug Mandrel

c) Float plug drawing d) Mandrel drawing
Fig. 7 Various methods of drawing tubes [4]

Dieless drawing has been studied as a means of fabricating microtubes [5]. In this study, however,
we examined the possible of sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing for fabricating 0.2-mm-outer-diameter
ultrafine tubes used for hypodermic needles.

Possibility of drawing and drawing stress

We examined whether an ultrafine tube with an outer diameter of 0.2 mm can be fabricated by
sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing.
A mother tube with an outer diameter of 1.27 mm and a wall thickness of 0.146 mm was
subjected to sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing at R/P = 5-8%. Using both methods, we succeeded
in thinning the tube to an outer diameter of 0.2 mm by performing 21 passes of drawing without
intermediate annealing. The drawing stress during the two drawing processes is shown in Fig. 8.
736 Metal Forming 2014

Fig. 8 Relationship between Rt and drawing stress

The drawing stress during fluid-mandrel drawing was greater than that during sinking by
approximately 40 MPa for every pass. This was considered to be because pressure from the fluid
was applied to the tube and great stress was generated during drawing.

Comparison of changes in wall thickness between sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing

Fine tubes used for hypodermic needles must smoothly conduct drugs and facilitate their
injection. Therefore, the wall thickness and inner surface roughness are important evaluation
factors.
For sinking, the increase in the wall thickness of a drawn tube can be calculated using eq. (3) on
the basis of the slab method.

𝑟 𝐵−
2 (𝑟 )
[ ]
1 𝑟 𝐵
𝑡 2 − (1 + 𝐵 ) {1 − (𝑟 ) }
= (3)
𝑡 𝑟 2
(𝑟 )
Here, B = μcotα, r0 and r are the outer radii of the tube before and after drawing, and t0 and t are
the wall thicknesses of the tube before and after drawing, respectively.
Figure 9 shows the changes in the wall thickness ratio during repeated drawing calculated using
the theoretical values from eq. (3) and the results of the experiment in which the mother tube was
thinned to an outer diameter of 0.2 mm by sinking at R/P = 8%. The change in the wall thickness
ratio for 1-6 passes of sinking obtained by FEA is also shown in the figure. Here, the wall thickness
ratio is defined as the ratio of the wall thickness to the outer diameter of the tube.
40
Sinking
32
24 FEA
Wall thickness ratio [%]
16
8
0 Fluid-mandrel drawing
0 20 40 60 80 100
Rt [%]
Fig. 9 Relationship between Rt and wall thickness ratio
 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 622-623 737

For sinking, the experimental and FEA results were in good agreement, indicating that the change
in the wall thickness of the drawn tube can be predicted by FEA.
The wall thickness ratio increased from 11.5% (mother tube) to approximately 36% for sinking,
whereas it increased to only approximately 23% for fluid-mandrel drawing. Thus, the increase in
the wall thickness was suppressed more for fluid-mandrel drawing than for sinking.
Figure 10 shows the cross-sectional shapes of the mother tube and the 0.2-mm-diameter tubes
obtained by sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing.
d=1.27mm

300μm
Thickness: 0.146mm
Sinking d=0.2mm d=0.2mm Fluid-mandrel drawing

60μm 60μm
Thickness: 0.072mm Thickness: 0.042mm
Fig. 10 Cross-sectional shapes of 0.2-mm-diameter ultrafine tubes

Although the tube was successfully thinned by sinking, it was not suitable for use as hypodermic
needles in terms of the cross-sectional shape, inner surface properties, or wall thickness. In contrast,
the increase in the wall thickness of the tube obtained by fluid-mandrel drawing was suppressed and
there were no irregularities on the inner surface of the tube.

Comparison of inner surface roughness of tubes obtained by sinking and fluid-mandrel

drawing
Ultrafine tubes used for hypodermic needles should have a smooth inner surface that helps the
efficient delivery of drugs. Figure 11 shows the inner surface roughness and scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) images of the mother tube and the fine tubes obtained by sinking and
fluid-mandrel drawing.
0.5 b) Sinking (d=0.2mm)
0.25
a) Mother tube(d=1.27mm) 0
0.5
0.25 -0.25
-0.5 5μm
0
-0.25 Ra=0.306[μm]
5μm
-0.5 0.5 c) Fluid-mandrel drawing(d=0.2mm)
Ra=0.185[μm] 0.25
0
-0.25 5μm
-0.5
Ra=0.223[μm]
Fig. 11 Inner surface roughness of tubes obtained by each drawing method

SEM revealed that the mother tube had a smooth inner surface. The inner surface of the
0.2-mm-diameter tube obtained by sinking was rough and appeared to be raised. However, the
738 Metal Forming 2014

deterioration of the inner surface of the tube obtained by fluid-mandrel drawing was more
suppressed than that of the tube obtained by sinking.
The arithmetic means of inner surface roughness (Ra) were 0.306 and 0.223 μm for the tubes
obtained by sinking and fluid-mandrel drawing, respectively. This also indicates that the increase in
the surface roughness was suppressed for fluid-mandrel drawing.

Conclusions
We examine the possibilities of (1) fabricating special tubes of various cross-sectional shapes by
bunch drawing, (2) thinning internally grooved tubes by fluid-mandrel drawing, and (3) fabricating
ultrafine tubes used for ultrafine hypodermic needles by fluid-mandrel drawing. The findings
obtained are summarized below.

1. It is possible to fabricate the special tubes of variety cross-sectional shapes by bunch drawing.
2. The cross-sectional shape of bunch-drawn tubes can be predicted by FEA.
3. Fluid-mandrel drawing enables internally grooved tubes to be thinned while maintaining a high
degree of similarity for the cross-sectional shape of the tube.
4. Sinking can be used to thin a tube to an outer diameter of 0.2 mm, but it is not suitable for
fabricating ultrafine tubes used for hypodermic needles because of the increased wall thickness
and poor inner surface properties of the drawn tube.
5. The tube obtained by fluid-mandrel drawing has good inner surface properties although its wall
thickness slightly increases after every pass, meaning that fluid-mandrel drawing is effective
for fabricating ultrafine tubes used for painless hypodermic needles.

Acknowledgement
We are deeply grateful to the staff of Teshima Corporation for providing valuable materials for
our experiments in this study.

References
[1] T. Furushima, et al.: Journal of Japan Institute of Copper, 46 (2007) pp. 111-115
[2] K. Yoshida, et al.: Proceedings of Conference on Materials and Processing Division of the Japan
Society of Mechanical Engineers, 14 (2006) pp.173-174
[3] The Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity: Encyclopedic Knowledge of Manufacturing –
from hypodermic needles to aluminum foil- (1992, Corona Publishing Co., Ltd.)pp. 2-3
[4] K. Yoshida, et al.: Basis of Plastic Processing (1988, Sangyo Tosho Publishing Co., Ltd.) pp.
64-65
[5] T. Furushima, et al.: Surface properties of microtubes fabricated by superplastic dieless drawing,
Proceedings of 2005 Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (2005) pp.
623-624
Metal Forming 2014
10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.622-623

Production of Special Tubes with a Variety Cross-Sectional Shapes by Bunch Drawing and Fluid-
Mandrel Drawing
10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.622-623.731