A review of spinning, shear forming and flow forming processes

In the last two decades or so, spinning and flow forming have gradually matured as metal forming processes for the production of engineering components in small to medium batch quantities. Combined spinning and flow forming techniques are being utilised increasingly due to the great flexibility provided for producing complicated parts nearer to net shape, enabling customers to optimise designs 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 developments in terms of research and industrial applications are reviewed. Also, the direction of research and development for future industrial applications are indicated. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.