About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
In Tribute to Robert Wagoner: A Pioneer in Metal Forming and Constitutive Modeling
|
| Presentation Title |
Pressure-Supported Tube Compression Forming of One-Piece Long Rail for Automotive Applications |
| Author(s) |
Jianfeng Wang, Zhou Wang, Lingyu Wang, Wei Xu, Guannan Chu |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jianfeng Wang |
| Abstract Scope |
Tubular structures have excellent stiffness and crash performance, making them candidates for long automotive structural components. Today, the commercial tubular forming methods are hydroforming and hot gas blow forming. Both requires high internal pressure and large press tonnage, which increases manufacturing cost and limits the size of producible parts. This work introduces a novel Pressure-Supported Tube Compression Forming technology (PSTCF) which can reduce gas pressure by 90% and press tonnage by 50%. PSTCF enables the production of large, integrated tubular components for vehicle structural components with varying cross section areas. Two applications are demonstrated: (1) a 3.4-meter ladder frame consolidating over 10 parts into a single rail with significant mass reduction while maintaining superior stiffness; and (2) a 2.3-meter-long rocker, hot-formed using PSTCF with an oxidation-resistant press-hardening steel of a estimated 40–50% cost reduction. PSTCF offers an economic way of producing long structural member for automotive applications. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Iron and Steel, Shaping and Forming, Mechanical Properties |