The Influence of the Roller Forming Path on the Neck-Spinning Process of Tube at Elevated Temperature

Abstract

The tube spinning process is a metal forming process used in the manufacture of axisymmetric products, and has been widely used in various applications. In this paper, the neck-spinning process was applied to form the neck part of the tube end at an elevated temperature. The spun tube was used as a high pressure CO2 vessel, which is a component of motorcycle airbag jackets. An uneven surface will occur on the tube surface if the thickness distribution of the tube is not uniform after the neck-spinning process. This is because different thicknesses result from different contractions during the cooling stage. For this reason, the aim of this research was to numerically investigate the roller forming path to improve the thickness distribution of the tube during the neck-spinning process. The finite element method was used to simulate the neck-spinning process of the tube at an elevated temperature. For the construction of the material model, special uni-axial tensile tests were conducted at elevated temperatures and various strain rates, because the material is sensitive to strain rates at high temperatures. This paper compares the experimental and simulation results of the thickness distribution and the outer contour of the spun tube. The validated finite element model was used to investigate the influence of the roller forming path on the thickness distribution of the tube. The thickness distribution of the tube formed by a curved path was found to be more uniform than for the tube formed by a straight path. Finally, the optimization technique was used to find the optimal forming path, and the optimal result was verified experimentally.