Abstract
In the 3D free bending forming system, the bending die can be designed either in a sliding type or rolling friction type. Bending die-based sliding friction type is often called normal bending dies; however, the bending dies-based rolling friction type includes bending die-based roller type and ball type in structure. In the current study, the impact of three bending dies on the forming force, and the bent tube quality was investigated. The obtained results showed that the tangential stresses and strains of the tubes formed by the bending die-based roller type were the smallest among the three bending dies. Besides, the spherical bearing force PU was reduced drastically after using the roller type and ball type compared to the sliding friction type. Moreover, the uniformity of the wall thickness distribution of the tubes formed by the roller type and ball type was better than those obtained from the sliding friction type. In addition, the cross-section distortion rate was reduced by 2.8% using the roller type, and 1.8% using ball-type compared to the sliding friction type.