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Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606

KBS-aided design of tube bending processes

Z. Jina, S. Luob, X. Daniel Fangb,*
a
Kysor//Warren, Co., Des Moines, Iowa, USA
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA

Abstract

Cold bending of metal tube products is a metal forming process widely used in industry. With today’s demand on high quality
tube-dependent products, bending of tubing parts has become a precision metalworking operation that requires sophisticated
knowledge and experience. In this work, a knowledge-based system (KBS) has been developed to aid the design of tube bending
processes, including bending methods selection, tool/die design, and process parameters setup. The object-oriented programming
techniques and the goal-driven search mechanism, featured by an interactive graphic user interface, have been applied in
development of the proposed KBS. The system developed has shown effective in tube parts production with significantly reduced
number of potential defects and failures, such as inaccuracy of bend angles or linear dimensions, wall thinning, flattening, wrinkling,
twisting, dents or cracks, etc. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cold bending; Knowledge-based systems; Tubing parts

1. Introduction relationship with the selection of bending methods, tool/

Cold bending of metal tubes is a very important
production method considering that metal tubes are
widely used in a great variety of engineering products,
such as automobile, aircraft, air conditioner, air
compressor, exhaust systems, fluid lines. Although cold
bending of metal tubes is an old metal forming process,
it is becoming a precision metalworking process and
requires high quality assurance (Cassidy, 1988). There
are a variety of methods for cold bending including
rotary drawing bending, compression bending, empty-
bending, ram bending, rolling bending, etc. (Kervick
and Springborn, 1966). Bending machines range from
hand benders, hydraulic bending, to fully computerized
CNC benders.
The problem that is facing tubing production industry
is that with the customer’s demand on complex tubing
parts and tight tolerances, there often exist defects and
failures of tubing parts, such as undesired deformation,
inaccuracy of bend angles and geometry, wall-thinning,
flattening, wrinkling, cracks, etc. All of these are in close
*Corresponding author. Stellram/Teledyne, 1 Teledyne Place,
LaVergne, TN 37086, USA. Tel.: +1-615-641-4110; fax: +1-615-
641-4441.
E-mail addresses: dfang@stellram.com, daniel fang@teledyne.com
(X.D. Fang).
die design, die set conditions, machine setup, material
effects, a number of bending process parameters such as
minimum bending radius, springback, wall factor,
empty-bending factor, etc.
Therefore, it is an urgent demand to develop a
knowledge-based system (KBS) that can assist the
engineers to optimize the process of cold bending of
metal tubes. The KBS techniques have proven effective
in solving a complex manufacturing problem where the
optimal decision-making is based on the integration of
facts, rules, equations, expertise, production data, and
process knowledge. Previous work in the area of
manufacturing includes engineering selection (Chan
and Lau, 1997), optimization of machining parameters
(Tolouei-Rad and Bidhendi, 1997), process planning
(Giusti et al., 1989; Gupta and Ghosh, 1988; Joseph and
Davies, 1990; Wong and Siu, 1995), jig and fixture
design (Pham and Sam, 1990), steel material design
(Fang and Shivathaya, 1995), deep-drawing die design
(Fang and Tolouei Rad, 1994), metal forming process
sequencing (Azushima et al., 1990), etc.
The objective of the work presented in this paper is to
develop a KBS for design of the tube bending process
that integrates metal tubing theories, tube bending
process knowledge, and human expert’s experience.
The KBS developed can be used to aid tubing engineers
to select tube bending methods, design tubing tools and

0952-1976/01/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 1 6 - 1
600 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606
dies, determine the optimal bending process parameters.
The object-oriented programming techniques are used in
developing the proposed KBS and the designers can
evaluate the design based on the goal-driven search
mechanism. The KBS can help the designer achieve the
goal of defects-free or failure-free of tubing parts. The
KBS for tube bending process has shown effective in
preventing the possible defects and failures from tube
production.
2. The tube bending process
2.1. Cold bending of tubes
Cold bending of metal tube products is probably one
of the oldest metal forming processes and the bent
tubing parts are widely used in industry. There are
several methods to be used for cold bending production,
such as rotary draw bending, compression bending, roll
bending, etc. The most popular methods are the rotary
draw bending and the compression bending. Both of
them can be embodied in either manual benders or
powered bending machines. In addition, empty-bending
is also widely used in combination with the above two
bending methods, because of less setup time, less tooling
cost, and no lubricant needed.
Basically, cold bending requires at least three items: a
center forming die, either fixed or rotated (for rotary
draw bending), a pressure die and a clamping or
following die. In the draw bending, a mandrel and a
wiper die are often equipped. The components of a die
set are shown in Fig. 1.
2.1.1. Rotary draw bending
Rotary draw bending is a widely used method for
bending tubes, particularly for tight bending radii and
thin wall tubes. The characteristics of this bending
method is that the center bending die, which is used to
form the angle of tube parts, rotates with the workpiece
Fig. 1. Components of a bending die set.
together, and the die set sometimes is equipped with a
wiper and a mandrel, depending on the size and shape of
workplace.
A die set up for a rotary draw bending is shown in
Fig. 2. Rotary draw bending is called because the tube is
being drawn into the bending area past the tangent
point. At one end, the tube is tightly pressed between a
center forming die and a clamp die at just beyond the
front tangent point against the clamp die. At the other
end, the workpiece is held by a pressure die and/or a
wiper die and a mandrel when they are necessary. The
pressure die restrains the free end of the workpiece and
allows it to move in a straight line. As the workpiece is
being drawn and rotating around the center die, the
pressure die, which is either static or boosted, transfers
the workpiece to the center die at the tangent point, so
as to get the desired angle and radius.
2.1.2. Compression bending
Compression bending is another common method for
cold bending. This is also the simplest and most
economic operation for bending metal tube parts.
Compression bending is a process whereby tube is bent
to reasonable smaller radius, usually without the use of
mandrel, wiper and precision tooling.
Fig. 3 shows a set up of compression bending.
Difference from the rotary draw bending is that the
center-forming die is fixed rather than ratable, and the
clamping die is replaced by a movable following die. The
following die by means of a rotary arm presses the
workpiece around the center-forming die to form the
desired shape.
2.2. Design parameters for tube bending process
There are many factors to be considered for tube
bending process. The basic parameters are minimum
bending radius, springback, wall factor, bending factor
and empty factor.
Fig. 2. Rotary draw bending.
 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606 601

2.2.1. Minimum bending radius on the other side create a net internal bending moment
In practice, an empirical formula for determining the or residual stresses. The residual stresses cause a
minimum bending radius, Rmin ; is in wide use (Cassidy, springback or a change of the bending angle, Dy; in
1988): the reverse direction of bending and a change of bending
radius, DR; as shown in Fig. 4.
Rmin ¼ D=2E 0 ; ð1Þ
where D is the outside diameter of the tube, and E0 is the 2.2.4. Bending factor
percent elongation of the tube material. Bending factor (BF) is described as the ratio of
bending centerline radius (R) over the outside diameter
2.2.2. Wall factor of the tube (OD) (Gillanders, 1984):
Wall factor (WF) is the ratio of the tube outside R
diameter (OD) to the wall thickness (t) (Gillanders, BF ¼ : ð3Þ
OD
1984):
OD 2.3. Difficulty in tubing process design
WF ¼ : ð2Þ
t
Tooling and die play an extremely important role in
2.2.3. Springback cold bending of metal tube products, and are directly
On release of the external loads, the tension stresses related to most failures in tube production. Common
on the one side of the tube and the compressive stresses failures and defaults in metal tube bending parts can be
classified as:
* Deformation (wall thinning, flattening, wrinkling) as
shown in Fig. 5.
* Inaccuracy (overbending, underbending, twisting,
beyond the linear dimension tolerance).
* Breakage/crack.
* Dents/marks.
Since tube bending is influenced by many technical
factors related to bending structure, bending radius,
material, wall thickness, diameter, tooling/die selection
and condition, bending methods, lubrication, and
operating parameters, etc., it is often difficult to achieve
an optimal design of the tube bending process, in
particular for bending parts with complex configuration
and geometry requirements.
Fig. 3. Compression bending.

3. Implementation of a knowledge-based system

3.1. Why a knowledge-based system helps?

A KBS is a computer program that has a knowledge

module and a control module. A knowledge module is a
knowledge base that stores all experts’ knowledge and
experience in the form of facts or rules. A control
module is then used to find out the result through all
kinds of knowledge; it is thus called inference engine.
The knowledge base represents all the human intelli-
gence through all the years. With the KBS approach, all
relevant process knowledge and experts’ experience can
be logically integrated together to provide engineers
with an effective tool in tubing design and manufactur-
ing.
Fig. 4. Changes of bending angle and radius before and after Because of the complex nature in tube bending, only
springback. engineers with many years of design experience would
602 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606
Fig. 5. Deformation.
own the knowledge for correct design of tube bending
processes. On one hand it is difficult for a young
engineer without such a rich experience to determine
the effective tubing process with minimum potential
failures. On the other hand, even for experienced
engineers, negligence would often result in unwanted
consequence.
Therefore, there is a need for developing an expert
system that can be used to aid the design of tube
bending processes.
3.2. Selection of goal-driven versus data-driven inference
engine
There are in general two kinds of inference engine,
goal-driven and data-driven. Suppose an inference logic
works as follows:
X in various applications.
ai xi ¼ S; ð4Þ
where ai is the coefficient that stand for rule conditions,
xi is the state of each rule, S is the possible resulting
states. In most applications xi is binary, 0 or 1. But it is
expandable to more options. Usually ai is known, but
states of xi are unknown prior to the inference machine
running. A KBS working in data-driven model takes the
available information of xi and finds S.
ai ; xi -S:
When there are multiple set of equations, the
inference engine generates as many derived facts as it
can. The output is therefore unpredictable. This may
waste computer time by output unwanted results.
As a contrast, a KBS system with goal-driven
mechanism focuses on the goal, finds the rules that
could produce the goal, and searches backward until the
goal target is found.
ai ; S-xi :
It is just like solving equations. The strategy is
appropriate when a specific solution is required. Even
if there are multiple sets of equations, only one specific S
is of interest and only one set of equations need to be
solved. In the case of using KBS for tubing process
design, since the product function requirements are
already set, the objective is to find out corresponding
tubing process parameters to be taken into account. A
goal-driven system (design) is then more suitable for
tubing process design.
3.3. Representation scheme: object-oriented expert
system
Object-oriented programming was evolved from
traditional serial coding scheme. Decomposing a prob-
lem-solving scheme with an object-oriented program
makes the resultant software more maintainable and
adaptable. The idea of object-oriented is therefore used
The reason of using an object-oriented KBS in tubing
design is that the domain knowledge of tubing processes
can be organized in a hierarchical fashion, from high-
level abstract concepts to lower-level specific entity
(Mockler and Dologite, 1992). The object-oriented
structure makes it easier at the initial stage to collect,
organize, and manage knowledge, and at the later stage
to modify the knowledge base as new information is
required. Fig. 6 shows the inference procedures in the
ð5Þ
object-oriented KBS. The benefit of an object-oriented
KBS, as pointed by Mockler and Dologite (1992), is its
ability to keep information about an object’s character-
istics and behavior within the object, rather than to have
it scattered throughout the knowledge base (Kehoe and
Parker, 1991).
3.4. Knowledge acquisition
The expert knowledge in a KBS is usually obtained
ð6Þ
through interaction between expert and knowledge
engineers. There are many ways to achieve this, such
as questionnaires, discussion, etc. Since the KBS for the
 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606
Fig. 6. Principle of the object-oriented KBS.
tubing process design is an object-oriented system and
goal-driven, it is very convenient to acquire and extract
knowledge from the goal and backward to possible
conditions.
The actual information was obtained through com-
munications with experienced engineers for desired
design. Then, all the necessary conditions for such a
design were given. All the knowledge rules acquired are
set as a path of possible logic reasoning. In the actual
representation scheme, all knowledge is either hidden in
the background or listed as comment with graphical
illustration.
4. The tube bending expert system
The tube bending process is a rather complex process
involving a number of technical factors. Therefore, there
are many kinds of failures or production problems that
are influenced by various technical factors. Generally,
four categories (deformation, inaccuracy, breakage and
marks) can be extracted from numerous problems, as
shown in Fig. 7. The nine subsystems of the KBS for
tube bending failures are, over-bending, under-bending,
dimension tolerance, twisted tube, wall thinning, wall
flattening, wrinkling, breaking on bends, and marks &
dents.
The goal to develop the knowledge-based expert
system is to aid the design of tube bending process for
failure-free tube parts, to provide advice for tube parts
production, and to analyze if there will be potential
defects or failures during tube bending operations.
603
4.1. Case study of expert knowledge of the tube bending
process
Wall thinning is the fact that outside wall thickness of
a tube is reduced as the tube is bent (see Fig. 5a). As
previously described, when external loads that cause the
bending are exerted on a tube, the tension stresses on the
outside of the tube and the compression stresses on the
inside of the tube will exist. The outside fibers will be
elongated, the inside fibers will be shortened, and the
neutral plane will keep the same.
Wall thinning is related to many factors, such as
material, size and shape, bending and wall factors,
bending method, tooling and die selection, condition
and set up, and bending operation, etc. Wall thinning is
directly influenced by friction between the tube and the
working die. The friction is introduced as the tube is
pulled over the tooling. Therefore, when using compres-
sion bending, any slippage between the tube and the
following die is not allowed. When using rotary draw
bending, wall thinning may be significant, because the
amount of friction acting on the bending tube is
increased as the workpiece is pulled over a mandrel
and wiper die.
As a general guide for designing a tube product, the
wall factor, e.g. WF ¼ D=t; should be 15 or less and
the bending factor, e.g. BF ¼ R=D; should be greater
than two times (Cassidy, 1988). The following is used
to estimate the change rate of wall thinning after
bending.
t ¼ D=ð2R þ DÞ ð7Þ
604 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606

Fig. 7. Problem identification in the KBS for the tube bending process design.

or C_die=Good AND
t ¼ Rt0 =ðR þ D=2Þ; ð8Þ P_die=Good AND
M_die=Good AND
where t is the reduction percent of the wall extrudes, Material=Good AND
with t ¼ ðt0  tÞ=t0 ; t and t0 are the wall thickness after Tube_W_M_die_lubrication=Yes AND
and before bending, respectively, D is the outside W_F_die_alignment=Bad OR
diameter of the tube, and R is the bending radius. W_die_tip_damage=Yse OR
It should be noted that wall thinning cannot be W_die_groove_dents=Yes
eliminated, but it can be controlled to a reasonable level,
in general, o30% (Dallas, 1976). In order to reduce wall THEN Wall-thinning=True (CF=80)
thinning, some machines are equipped with a booster to
push the tube going forward with the pressure die This rule can be explained if any of the 3 following
together so as to decrease tension acting on the tube. states happens.
(a) Bending method is rotary; and center forming die,
4.2. How to implement knowledge rules as object rules
following die, pressure die, wiper, mandrel, and
material are all good, and the tube, wiper, and
All information for each rule/fact, goal and explana-
center forming die are lubricated; but the alignment
tion is represented in a frame display and built in the
between the wiper and the center forming die is bad.
database as different subsystems. An expert shell, called
(b) Bending method is rotary; and center forming die,
LEVEL5 OBJECT (Luger and William, 1993), is used to
following die, pressure die, wiper, mandrel; and
develop the KBS for tubing process design. LEVEL5
material are all good; and the tube, wiper, and
OBJECT is a KBS and application tool, which combines
center forming die are lubricated; but there are
the technologies of graphic user interfaces, frame or
dents on the groove of the wiper.
object-oriented programming, and client/server. One of
(c) Bending method is rotary; and center forming die,
the rules in the KBS using above expert knowledge is as
following die, pressure die, wiper, mandrel; and
follows.
material are all good; and the tube, wiper, and
center forming die are lubricated; but the lips of the
RuleE-20*
groove of the wiper are damaged.
IF Bending_method=Rotary AND The result of wall thinning will be true with a
F_die=Good AND possibility of 80%. If the rule has been fired, more
 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606
Fig. 8. Semantic network of wall-thinning subsystem.
explanations will be given to detail why wall thinning
happens and how to solve the problem:
Reasons: Friction drag will increase and cause the
wall thinning during the bending process due to
misalignment or damaged wiper tip or dents on die
groove.
Suggestion: Change the wiper die if its tip is damaged,
or repair the dented groove, or make an adjustment for
this die set.
4.3. System structure
The system knowledge can be expressed as the way of
semantic network. Fig. 8 shows the semantic network of
the subsystem of ‘‘Wall-Thinning’’.
5. Results
The KBS for design of tube bending processes
embraces nine subsystems of bending failures and
around 200 rules in the database. The inference
engine uses the backward chaining (goal-driven reason-
ing) inference mechanism. By means of a high-level
expert system shell, LEVEL5 OBJECT, the KBS
combines the technologies of graphic user interfacing,
frame or object-oriented programming, and logical
representation.
With the help of graphical illustration and step
instruction for users, engineers without previous experi-
ence can understand the tube manufacturing process
and design appropriate tooling and die unit in a short
605
period. Experienced engineers can also use the KBS as
an efficient way in design and referencing.
6. Discussion and conclusion
Tube bending is a complicated operation that is
influenced by many factors, such as tooling, material,
tube geometry, bending methods, machine setting up,
operators’ skills, etc. Using expert system techniques
that incorporate human experts’ knowledge and intelli-
gence is an effective means for design of tube bending
processes and guidance to production.
IA methods or knowledge-based systems (KBS) in
manufacturing are beneficial to increase efficiency,
reduce production costs, and improve quality. For the
tube bending fabrication industry, the knowledge-based
system can assist the engineers with tool and die design,
and the production foremen and workers with trouble
shooting and quality improvement. Furthermore, the
KBS will provide a guide to select a correct method of
tube bending production and to reduce the percentage
of defective parts, so as to increase the production
efficiency, to reduce the labor time and material waste,
and save the overall costs significantly.
The KBS developed for tube bending processes
has demonstrated how manufacturing process design
can be improved with intelligence from years of
experience. Yet, it is desirable to develop an interface
between the KBS for tubing design with a CAD/CAM
system, which would lead to further study in using
concurrent engineering approach to integrate CAD,
KBS and CAM in design and manufacturing of tube
products.
606 Z. Jin et al. / Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 14 (2001) 599–606
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