Tube spinning process: Recent advances and challenges

Amidst the sustainable evolution of the economy and society, the issues of energy scarcity and environmental degradation have gained increasing prominence, making energy conservation and emission reduction the focal point of societal concern. Within this context, metal tubes fittings, as essential components, wield significant and extensive influence in domains such as aviation, aerospace, and new energy vehicles. Notably, the burgeoning prominence of advanced plastic forming methods, epitomized by the flexible medium forming process of tubes, has garnered escalating attention.

Spinning process, a near-net forming process for blanks, embodies numerous distinctive advantages. Notably, it entails lower forming load, heightened forming accuracy, necessitates only rudimentary tooling, and yields commendable surface finish. Hence, spinning finds wide-ranging application in the fabrication of hollow rotary components. As science and technology advance, an expanding array of materials such as magnesium alloy, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, superalloy, and composite materials find application in tube spinning. In tandem, in order to meet the technical requirements of the tube, a variety of forming methods based on the spinning process have been developed.

The team published their work ‘Tube spinning process: Recent advances and challenges’ (JAMST, 2024, 4(4): 2024014. DOI: 10.51393/j.jamst.2024014) in Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Science and Technology.

“This review focus on the utilization of spinning process in tube blank formation. It encompasses an investigation into the application of diverse materials and spinning methods in spinning process, along with a summary of the properties of tube blanks post the spinning process. And the challenges of the tube spinning process in the future are expected to revolve around the research and production of tube components with enhanced accuracy and performance.” said Xuedao Shu, professor at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics at Ningbo University (China), a senior expert whose research interests focus on the field of metal forming.

Evidently, as spinning process continues to iterate and advance, an increasing number of tube parts are being formed by spinning process, encompassing both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Concurrently, composite tube components, engineered for more intricate and hazardous environments, are also being fabricated through spinning technology. Moreover, a burgeoning array of spinning methods, including stagger spinning, multi-pass spinning, ball spinning, and internal spinning, are being incorporated in the formation of tube parts. Presently, a burgeoning re-search trend involves composite spinning, seamlessly amalgamating other forming methods. In the formation process of composite tubes, owing to the paramount influence of bonding strength on composite tubes, the relationship between spinning parameters and interface element diffusion and bonding strength has been widely studied. Finally, the evolution law and interface bonding mechanism of the composite tube interface of different materials were established.

“The spinning process is extended to bimetal and multimetal tubes, with special emphasis on materials that have not yet been explored. It is an important research field of tube spinning process in the future to clarify its spinning forming mechanism and interface bonding mechanism.” said Zixuan Li.

About Author

Dr. Jiabin Zheng is the first author of this paper. His main research direction is spinning process of composite tubes. He has published several papers (SCI, EI).

Shu Xuedao is the corresponding author of this paper. He is a professor at Ningbo University. He has presided over 17 scientific research projects at or above provincial and ministerial level, including the National Natural Science Foundation and the Zhejiang Outstanding Youth Fund, and has won 5 science and technology awards at or above provincial and ministerial level. The first completed person won 3 provincial and ministerial awards. 47 national invention patents were authorized; He has published 188 academic papers, of which nearly 90 have been included in EI and SCI. The first author has written and published 4 monographs such as "Rolling Technology and Application of shaped ring Parts", "Theory and Forming Technology of wedge and cross Rolling", and "Theory and Application of wedge and Cross Rolling multi-wedge Synchronous rolling". Chapter 2 of "Wedge rolling mill and skew rolling mill" in "Forging Manual" was prepared.

He is the head of the mechanical discipline and program of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics of Ningbo University, the director of the Key Laboratory of Parts Rolling Technology of Zhejiang Province, the senior member of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineering, the member of the Forging Society, the director of the Zhejiang Provincial Society of Mechanical Engineering, and the editorial board of Modern Manufacturing Engineering, Hot Working Technology, Applied Science and Technology, etc.

About Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Science and Technology

Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Science and Technology (JAMST) is an open-access and peer-reviewed journal that was launched by Dalian University of Technology and Engineering Research Center of Advanced Manufacturing Technology for Aero Engine, Ministry of Education, Northwestern Polytechnical University in 2021. The journal is published by Tsinghua University Presss.

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