Synopsis: We are facing the rising costs of materials. In the last 18 months alone, titanium and nickel prices have tripled. Making the problem worse, these materials are not readily available in tubular form. Therefore, when cylindrical components are needed in Titanium or Inconel more often than not, they are machined from solid bar with expensive operations and costly material wastes. By flowforming these expensive materials, customers keeps their components’ costs down in two significant ways. First, flowforming begins with a short preform, usually a fourth of the overall finished component’s length. Hence, there is minimal material waste when machining the short preform. Second, because the piece is flowformed to either net shape or near net shape, there is the elimination of costly machining operations that are conventionally employed to produce cylindrical components such as trepanning, gun drilling and boring. Design engineers, metallurgists, and procurement groups who are seeking ways to save metal and money are now turning to flowforming. Those who always appreciated the dimensional, mechanical, and metallurgical benefits of this manufacturing process are now strategically taking advantage of the economics of flowforming. Click here for entire article.

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