In the last two decades or so, spinning and flow forming have gradually matured as metal forming processes for the productionof engineering components in small to medium batch quantities. Combined spinning and flow forming techniques are being utilisedincreasingly due to the great flexibility provided for producing complicated parts nearer to net shape, enabling customers to optimisedesigns and reduce weight and cost, all of which are vital, especially in automotive industries.In this paper, process details of spinning and flow forming are introduced. The state of the art is described and developmentsin terms of research and industrial applications are reviewed. Also, the direction of research and development for future industrialapplications are indicated.
Metal spinning is one of the oldest methods of chip-less forming, but over the years, this process has lostground to other forming process such as deep drawingand ironing. However, due to the inherent advantagesand flexibility of the process such as simple tooling andlow forming loads, plus the rapid emerging trend inmodern industries towards near net shape manufacturingof thin sectioned lightweight parts, spinning has under-gone a renaissance in recent years and has developedinto a versatile process for producing lightweightcomponents.Spinning is commonly known as a process for trans-forming flat sheet metal blanks, usually with axisym-metric profiles, into hollow shapes by a tool which forcesa blank onto a mandrel, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Theblanks are clamped rigidly against the mandrel by meansof a tailstock and the shape of the mandrel bears thefinal profile of the desired product. During the process,both the mandrel and blank are rotated while the spin-ning tool contacts the blank and progressively induces a change in its shape according to the profile of the man-drel. As the tool is applied locally on the workpiece, thetotal forming forces are reduced significantly comparedto conventional press forming. This not only increasesthe possibilities in terms of large reductions and changein shape with less complex tooling, but also reduces therequired load capacity and cost of the forming machine.In addition, spinning is also known to produce compo-nents with high mechanical properties and smooth sur-face finish.
Read more: A review of spinning, shear forming and flow forming processes
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222724621_A_review_of_spinning_shear_forming_and_flow_forming_processes