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3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

Relative Position of Plug and Die on Forming Accuracy of

Shaped Tube by Cold Drawing

Wei Li1, Shengqiang Liu1, Pengni Feng1, Jing Zhou1 and Baoyu Wang1,2*
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing,
No.30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 10083, China.
2
Beijing Laboratory of Modern Transportation Metal Materials and Processing
Technology, Beijing 100083, China.
Email: bywang@ustb.edu.cn (Baoyu Wang), weili03@foxmail.com (Wei Li)

Abstract. In the actual industrial production and manufacturing, tube drawing plays an
extremely important role. In this study, a device with adjustable relative plug position is designed,
the influence of relative plug position on the dimensional accuracy and the drawing force of
drawn tube was investigated. The results show that different relative plug positions affect the
inner and outer surface dimensions of the tube respectively. Therefore, the relative plug position
can be distinguished according to the following rules in industrial production. When the position
of the plug relative to the die is backward, the outer surface dimension of the drawn tube is
qualified but the inner surface dimension is unqualified. When the position of the plug relative
to the die is forward, the inner surface dimension of the drawn tube is qualified but the outer
surface dimension is unqualified. The relative position of the plug is mainly due to the different
radial force given to the tube by the plug and the die, resulting in the unqualified size of the
drawn tube. When the plug is positioned backward relative to the die, the tube is subjected to the
radial force of the plug first and then the radial force of the die. When the plug is positioned
forward relative to the die, the tube is subjected to the radial force of the die first and then the
radial force of the plug.
Keywords. Cold drawing, Shaped tube, Relative plug position, Stress distribution, Forming
accuracy.

1. Introduction
Shaped tube are widely used in medical devices, mechanical equipment, aerospace and other fields.
Generally, the plastic processing methods of shaped tube mainly include extrusion, drawing and rolling.
Due to the convenience of die design and manufacture, simple equipment and convenient maintenance,
tube drawing occupies a large proportion in the production mode of shaped tube. Especially for the thin-
walled shaped tube with complex overall dimensions, which is often produced by drawing process.
Fixed plug drawing is one of the most widely used production methods, and the inner and outer surface
of the drawn tube has good quality and high precision. In the fixed plug drawing process, the outer
surface of the shaped tube is formed by the die, and the inner surface of the shaped tube is determined
by the fixed plug. Under the joint action of the die and the fixed plug, the shaped tube whose inner and
outer surface dimensions meet the requirements is obtained [1].
Nowadays, there are more and more kinds of shaped tube produced and manufactured by fixed plug
drawing process. Xu et al. proposed a newly developed plug featuring a tiny boss club structure in the
sizing stage to form rectangular tube [2]. Görög et al. used the fixed plug with straight groove and the

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

fixed plug with spiral groove to form the corresponding shaped tube with inner grooves, respectively
[3]. Liu et al. proposed the fixed plug drawing process to form the ribbed tube, and explored the influence
of different process conditions on the forming accuracy of ribbed tube [4, 5]. Quan et al designed a die
with reasonable size, and produced a rectangular tube meeting the accuracy requirements by two-pass
drawing process [6]. Li et al. studied the effect of process parameters on rib filling of shaped tube by
fixed plug drawing, and realized the precision forming of ribbed tube by multi-pass drawing process [7].
In the actual industrial production, the mode of the fixed plug drawing has a high matching relationship
between the die and the plug, especially the axial relative position in sizing stage of the plug and the die
should be consistent. However, there are few researches on the relative position of plug and die in the
tube drawing with fixed plug.
In this work, a shaped tube with arc section is selected as the target part to investigate the influence
of relative plug position on the forming accuracy of drawn tube. Further, a device for adjusting the
position of plug is designed to study the influence of the relative position of plug and die on the forming
accuracy of tube. The fixed plug cold drawing experiments of shaped tube with different relative plug
positions are carried out, and the corresponding finite element models were established to analyze the
formability difference of relative plug position. Based on these, the influence mechanism of different
relative plug positions on the internal and external surface accuracy of drawn tube is further revealed,
which provides a method for judging the relative position on the forming accuracy of tube in the actual
industrial production process.

2. Research Arrangements

2.1. Product Structure and Process Design

To investigate the influence of the relative plug position on the inner and outer surface of the drawn tube,
a shaped tube with arc outer surface and circular inner surface is designed in this paper, and its
characteristic dimensions are shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Production structure of shaped tube.

A fixed plug drawing device with adjustable relative plug position is designed to analysis the
influence of relative plug position on the accuracy of drawn tube, as shown in figure 2. In addition to
the conventional drawn tube and die, it also includes a nut and a threaded fixing plug at the end. The
relative position of plug and die can be adjusted to a certain extent by the matching of nut and thread.
The whole drawing process can be divided into three parts: diameter reducing stage (Ⅰ), wall reducing
stage (Ⅱ) and sizing stage (Ⅲ). The tube produces plastic deformation with reduced diameter in the
diameter reducing stage, and plastic deformation with diameter reduced and wall thickness reduced in
the wall reducing stage. At the same time, the sizing stage is in contact with the die and plug to gradually
produce tubes whose internal and external surfaces meet the accuracy requirements. Therefore, the
relative plug position in this paper mainly refers to the relative position of sizing stage between the fixed
plug and the die, which is represented by ΔZ. When ΔZ is greater than 0, it means that the plug is front
relative to the die, and when Z is less than 0, it means that the plug is back relative to the die.

2
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

Figure 2. Drawing process design and components of fixed plug with adjustable relative plug position.

2.2. Finite Element Simulation

The finite element model was established by Abaqus/Explicit, as shown in figure 3. According to the
length of die and plug in sizing stage, different relative plug positions are selected for modeling and
simulation. The die and plug were set as rigid bodies and divided into C3D4 linear elements. The tube
was set as a deformable body and divided into C3D8R linear elements with reduction integration. A
quarter of the model is conducted and the mesh of deformation area was densified locally. The simulation
parameters are listed in table 1.

Figure 3. The finite element model of shaped tube drawing with different relative plug positions.

Table 1. Parameters of FE model.

Parameter Value
Initial tube outer diameter Di (mm) 11
Initial tube wall thickness Wi (mm) 0.85
Die diameter Φd (mm) 9.5
Plug diameter Φp (mm) 8.3
Length of die in sizing stage L1 (mm) 1
Length of fixed plug in sizing stage L2 (mm) 0.3
Die angle α (°) 10
Fixed plug lubrication cone angle γ (°) 15
Friction coefficient of die/tube 0.07
Friction coefficient of plug/tube 0.07
Simulation velocity (mm/s) 10
Relative plug position ΔZ (mm) -2, 0 , +2

3
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

The chemical composition (wt%) of 316L stainless steel used in this work was as: C 0.03, Mn 0.71,
P 0.041, S 0.0033, Si 0.44, Cr 16.7, Ni 9.58, Mo 1.98, and an Fe balance.

The modified Johnson-Cook equation is used to describe its deformation behavior, as follows
(equation (1)) [8-10]:
0.75
𝜎𝑒𝑞 = (200 + 1298𝜀𝑒𝑞 )[1+0.02ln𝜀̇𝑒𝑞 ] (1)
Here, 𝜎𝑒𝑞 is the equivalent stress, 𝜀𝑒𝑞 is the equivalent strain, and 𝜀̇𝑒𝑞 is effective plastic strain rate.

2.3. Drawing Experiment

Figure 4 shows the fixed plug drawing device with adjustable relative plug position and its components.
Shrink one side of the circular section tube through the die and fixed by the chuck and move axially at
a certain speed by the electric cylinder. Insert the plug from the other side of the tube. The position of
the plug relative to the die can be adjusted through the bolts and nuts on the long mandrel. The precise
forming of the inner and outer surfaces of the tube under the joint action of the plug and the die.

Figure 4. Fixed plug drawing device with adjustable relative plug position and its components.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Forming Results of Dimensional Accuracy

The shaped tube at different relative plug positions are formed by the designed adjustable plug position
device, and the experimental results under different parameters are shown in figure 5. It can be clearly
seen that when the position of the sizing stage on the die and the plug coincides, i.e. ΔZ = 0 mm, the
internal and external surfaces of the tube after drawing are the same as the target size, and the maximum
error is 1.13%, as shown in figure 5(b). Further, when the position of the plug relative to the die is
backward, i.e. ΔZ = - 2 mm, the outer surface size of the drawn tube meets the requirements, while the
inner surface size does not meet the requirements, as shown in figure 5(a). When the plug is positioned
forward relative to the die, i.e. ΔZ = + 2 mm, the inner surface dimension of the tube after drawing meets
the requirements, while the outer surface dimension does not meet the requirements, as shown in figure
5c.

4
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

Figure 5. Experimental results of shaped tube with different relative plug positions: (a) ΔZ =
-2 mm, (b) ΔZ = 0 mm, (c) ΔZ = +2 mm.

Figure 6 shows the simulation results of shaped tube with different relative plug positions. According
to the comparison of experimental and simulation results, the accuracy of the simulation model can be
verified. Further observation shows that the minimum wall thickness of the shaped tube is the most
affected. Therefore, it can be concluded that when the position of the plug relative to the die is backward,
it mainly affects the inner surface accuracy of the drawn tube, as shown in figure 6(a), and when the
position of the plug relative to the die is forward, it mainly affects the outer surface accuracy of the
drawn tube, as shown in figure 6(c).

Figure 6. Simulation results of shaped tube with different relative plug positions: (a) ΔZ = -2
mm, (b) ΔZ = 0 mm, (c) ΔZ = +2 mm.

Figure 7 shows the simulation results of drawing force with shaped tube at different relative plug
positions. It can be found that when the sizing stage of the plug coincides with the die, the drawing force
of the tube is the largest, followed by the position of the plug forward relative to the die, and the position
of the plug backward relative to the die is the smallest.

5
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

Figure 7. Simulation results of drawing force by shaped

tube with different relative plug positions.

3.2. Analysis on the Formability Difference

To reveal the influence mechanism of different relative plug positions on the tube forming accuracy, the
radial stress of the tubes section at the position with the minimum wall thickness is taken for analysis,
as shown in figure 8. Figure 8(a) is a schematic cross-sectional view of the drawn tube at different
relative plug positions, and figure 8(b) is a radial stress distribution diagram of the whole deformation
process at different relative plug positions. Different relative plug positions give different radial forces
to the tube, resulting in different time for the tube to bear the radial force of plug and die. When the plug
is positioned backward relative to the die, the tube is first subjected to the radial force given by the plug
and then to the radial force by the die, so that the outer surface size of the tube is qualified, but the inner
surface size is unqualified. When the plug is positioned forward relative to the die, the tube is first
subjected to the radial force given by the die, and then to the radial force by the plug, so that the inner
surface size of the tube is qualified, but the outer surface size is unqualified. Only when the position of
the sizing stage between the plug and the die coincide can the internal and external surface dimensions
of the tube be qualified. In other words, in industrial production, if the accuracy of the outer surface of
the tube after drawing is qualified and the accuracy of the inner surface is unqualified, it can be
determined that the position of the plug relative to the die is backward. If the accuracy of the inner
surface of the tube after drawing is qualified and the accuracy of the outer surface is unqualified, it can
be determined that the position of the plug relative to the die is forward.

Figure 8. (a) schematic diagram of section position and (b) radial stress distribution at different
relative plug positions.

4. Conclusions
(1) The relative plug position affects the accuracy of the inner and outer surface of the tube after drawing,
resulting in the size of the tube not meeting the accuracy requirements.

6
3rd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2022) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2437 (2023) 012096 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2437/1/012096

(2) The relative plug position affects the drawing force of the tube in the drawing process. When the
relative position of the die and the plug is consistent, the drawing force is the largest, followed by the
relative plug position is positive to the die, and finally the relative plug position is negative to the die.
(3) When the plug is positioned backward relative to the die, the outer surface dimension of the tube
is qualified and the inner surface dimension is unqualified. When the plug is positioned forward relative
to the die, the inner surface dimension of the tube is qualified and the outer surface dimension is
unqualified. In industrial production, it can be judged according to the above law.
(4) The influence of relative plug position on the drawn tube is mainly due to the different time before
and after the plug and die giving the tube force in the sizing stage, which leads to the unqualified size
of the inner or outer surface of the drawn tube.

Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51875036),
and the Beijing Key Laboratory of Metal Forming Lightweight.

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