Case: Tube for exhaustion system
This case is about a bended tube, that is part of an exhaustion system for truck engines. Even though the tube has a radius of only 127mm, we have managed to make a 90-degree bend on the item.
The item is part of an exhaustion system, in which it is constantly exposed to high temperatures. Therefore, it is important that the material is corrosion resistant. Because of that, the item is manufactured in stainless steel with a special heat-resistant alloy.
How we manufacture the tube
The tube consists of two deep-drawn half shells, which is subsequently welded together and annealed. The front and back of the product comply with a narrow 0,5 mm position tolerance.
As the item is formed using a deep-drawing operation, both the bending radius and other geometries can be formed to fit very tight tolerances, which would not have been possible using a conventional pipe bending process.
In a conventional pipe bending process, a bend of such small radius would result in the material being torn apart at the back of the bend, because of the tensions in the material. Thus, deep-drawing constitutes a method for shaping complex geometries with tighter radii.
This tube also have different radii between the two ends of the item. This also would not have been possible by performing a regular pipe bending operation, with a pipe of one given radius.
