Investigation of the effect of roller inclination angle on the forming forces during a splined mandrel flow forming operation

Splined mandrel flow forming (SMFF) process is prone to premature failure of the splined mandrels. Such a failure is thought to be related to the magnitude of the forming forces exerted on the mandrel by the forming rollers. The multi-parametric nature of SMFF processes requires the use of a multi-variable analysis technique (i.e. Taguchi method) in order to assess different process parameters. In the present study, we demonstrated that there is an optimal inclination angle for the rollers that minimizes the forming forces and, therefore, optimizes the service life of the splined mandrel.