Influence of the pressure holding time on strain generation in fuel injection lines

An influence of the pressure holding time on residual strain generation during the autofrettage process was studied experimentally for the first time in the present work. It is the state of the art that fuel injection lines are held at the autofrettage pressure for only a few seconds in an industrial production. In doing so, it is assumed that a desirable residual stress–strain pattern is generated. However, the results of the experimental investigations outlined in this work indicated that completion of the plastic deformation caused by the autofrettage process and generation of the desirable stress–strain pattern require a much longer period. As shown, a third-order polynomial equation best described the interdependence between the time required for the completion of the process, the corresponding autofrettage pressure and the generated strain state. The method presented can be used as a tool for the determination of the optimal autofrettage process parameters in industrial production of fuel injection lines.