Unison tube bender makes light work of SST’s life-saving Halo system

It has also helped the business to complete numerous complex structural projects, involving titanium tubes – including roll-cage structures for military vehicles and aerospace components.

The machine, a Unison Breeze 130mm ‘large diameter’ multi-stack tube bender, was purchased to help SST produce high-performance optimal-flow exhaust systems for Formula 1, IndyCar, and
other motorsport sectors. With a pedigree in motorsport components and a powerful new tube bending machine to hand, however, SST’s thoughts quickly turned to driver safety. The exceptionally tight material control, production parameters, and dimensional tolerances provided by the all-electric Unison Breeze tube bender led to the company’s Halo design securing
FIA conformity for use in Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula E motorsport, and being adopted by several race teams. SST’s Halo design requires the precise bending of a titanium tube with 4mm wall thickness.

Notoriously difficult to bend

Titanium, however, is notoriously difficult to bend. With low uniform elongation typically requiring
a much greater bend radii than other metals, titanium doesn’t readily lend itself to being formed – a characteristic that makes creating tubular structures for aerospace and motorsport applications particularly challenging. For successful tube forming, the material must be compressed on the inside of the bend and stretched on the outside,
while wall thinning and ovality of the tube must be kept to very tight tolerances. Traditionally, ‘hot bending’ – a process involving the use of super-heated tooling – has been used to overcome the challenges of bending titanium. 

However, the very process of hot bending presents several issues... 

Read the full article in the June issue of DPA