Incremental tube forming

Abstract

The incremental tube forming process is an innovative approach to manufacture three-dimensionally bent tubes with varying cross sections. The process combination of a tube bending and a tube spinning process leads to a significantly reduced bending moment as well as to a reduced springback compared to a conventional bending process. Therefore, this innovative process combination is especially suitable for the manufacture of high-strength materials as well as thin-walled tubes. Besides the mentioned process phenomena the process allows the manufacture of tubes with varying cross sections. The diameter as well as the wall thickness of the tube can be varied and, therefore, the cross section can be adapted to the load case applied during the subsequent usage of the bent tubular part.