New Technologies for Producing Bicycle Hub Forging

The paper presents the results of research on two new forging processes for producing bicycle hub forgings in a three-slide forging press. The first process is related to producing a forging with an axial cavity by flashless forging. The other one concerns the production of a forging from a tube billet. The potential benefits offered by these two new forging processes compared to the conventional hammer forging method for producing hubs are discussed. The designed processes are verified theoretically via numerical simulations. The first of the proposed processes is also subjected to experimental verification. The results demonstrate that the new technologies allow obtaining good quality products. A comparison is made between material and energy consumption in the two analyzed processes and in conventional hammer forging. It is found that the application of the forging process in a three-slide forging press leads to a considerable decrease in manufacturing costs.