Experimental studies in flow forming of tubes: a review

摘要

Flow forming technology has emerged as the most advanced metal forming technique due to its manifold advantages over conventional metal forming techniques such as extrusion and tube drawing. It offers remarkable utilization of metal, high specific strength, excellent surface finish and close dimensional tolerances within the envelope of reasonable economics. With the introduction of heavy-duty CNC flow forming machines with 3-roller configuration, hard to work materials can be formed easily and deformation above 95% has become possible even for metals like maraging steel. In the last three decades flow forming technique has undergone several remarkable advancements. The major experimental studies reported in literature have been reviewed in this paper and attempt has been made to present the experimental findings and developments in flow forming metallic and non metallic materials such as poly propylene in a simple manner. The study brings out the potential and the ever increasing applications of this manufacturing technique in defence, automotive and aerospace sectors.