Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Izuru Hori

Yuji Kanai

Kenji Miyanaga

Manabu Maruyama

Kouki Mizutani

Kazuo Isogai

A process for forming a tubular member is provided which includes a pre-forming process for tube-expanding (bulge) forming and bending forming a tubular material using first and second molds and a final forming process for crush forming a preformed tube using a third mold so as to give its cross section a desired shape, the pre-forming step being carried out using the first and second molds heated at temperatures equal to or higher than the recrystallization temperature of the tubular material and the final forming step being carried out using the third mold heated at temperatures equal to or lower than the recrystallization temperature of the tubular material. The process enables a tubular material of aluminum alloy to be formed into a tubular member of high precision and high quality which has expanded portions as well as bent portions and whose cross section varies across its length.

Process for forming tubular member

A process is provided for producing a hollow member having a wall thickness, in a cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, that varies in the longitudinal direction, the process including a heating step of heating a tubular material (Pa) so that the tubular material (Pa) is given a temperature variation in the longitudinal direction, and a stretching step of axially stretching the tubular material (Pa) that has been heated in the preceding step. In this way, a hollow member having a cross-sectional wall thickness that is variable in the longitudinal direction can be easily produced.

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Sayama, Japan

Izuru Hori