Fontijne Grotnes Rotary roll forming is a cold rolling process capable of forming profiled configurations to close tolerances in cylinders, conical shapes, hoops and rings. This process is desirable when good surface finish and fine detail are required. When producing parts of different diameters having the same profile, tooling costs and setup-time are minimized.

Rotary roll forming of circular parts is a precision process in which thick-walled rings are formed between dies that displace material both axially and radially to attain the desired shape. This process greatly reduces and, in many cases, completely eliminates machining.

Rotary roll formers have been found practical for many applications:

• Jet engine rings
• Pipe couplings
• Butterfly valves
• Appliance parts
• Blower rings
• Other similar parts

Fontijne Grotnes Rotary roll forming is a cold rolling process capable of forming profiled configurations to close tolerances in cylinders, conical shapes, hoops and rings. This process is desirable when good surface finish and fine detail are required. When producing parts of different diameters having the same profile, tooling costs and setup-time are minimized.

Rotary roll forming of circular parts is a precision process in which thick-walled rings are formed between dies that displace material both axially and radially to attain the desired shape. This process greatly reduces and, in many cases, completely eliminates machining.

Fontijne Grotnes has developed an uncommon approach to metalforming as an alternative to conventional techniques and practices for forming or sizing hollow geometric shapes. Two key factors comprise our approach: the use of hollow cylindrical blanks and the subsequent forming processes to shape the blank.

Using cylindrical blanks eliminates the often costly and wasteful stamping operations of blanking, deep drawing and piercing, which can lead to expensive scrap. These blanks are formed to close tolerances, often in only one operation, by expanding, shrinking or rotary roll forming. These processes often eliminate machining and fabricating steps, saving time, material and manpower as cost reductions vital to your profitability.

Some products require complex shapes or sharp contours. Shallow contours can be obtained by expanding or shrinking alone. To obtain those more complex shapes or sharp contours, Fontijne Grotnes can provide machines designed to force the metal to flow in special directions. Fontijne Grotnes has three general solutions in case sharp contours and complex shapes are required.

• Expander with collapsible outer die
• Shrinker with collapsible inner die
• Expander/ Shrinker combination

Fontijne Grotnes can upgrade competitors’ pipe expanders by installing a straightening system that will improve the straightness of the pipe in all directions, where other systems only control straightness in the plane of the weld-seam.

Fontijne Grotnes successfully improved the horn and drawbar system with the patented connections with cylinder and expander head. When the horn and drawbar of Full Length Pipe Expanders from other suppliers frequently breaks, Fontijne Grotnes can improve the reliability by replacing the drawbar with our patented connection system.

Fontijne Grotnes expanders size and/or form a wide range of hollow components having a continuous cross-section, such as cylinders, cones, squares and polysided shapes. Expanders perform any number of sizing and forming operations, limited only by the properties of the metals used.

The part to be expanded is positioned around the outer periphery of the forming dies. By the movement of the cone the dies are pushed outwards and stretch the metal part beyond its yield point and form it to the desired shape and size.

Applications

The types of parts that can be manufactured by the expanding process, range from small and light-gauge metal parts such as:

• Bearing retainer rings
• Blower and fan housings
• Metal containers
• Heavy jet engine rings
• Motor and generator frames
• Pipe couplings

Full Length Pipe Expanders

To meet the international standards for longitudinal welded large diameter pipes in the oil and gas industry, Fontijne Grotnes is active in designing and manufacturing of mechanical Full Length Pipe Expanders for more than 40 years. Our Full Length Pipe Expander is in use with well-known LSAW pipe manufacturers all over the world.

A Full Length Pipe Expander is an essential part of the production process in a pipe mill. Tolerances for ovality and straightness of pipes are becoming increasingly important to the later laying of pipes in the field. The pipe expander process makes the welding of the pipeline in the field, even cut pipe sections, much easier. The expander guarantees a consistent, repeatable process regarding diameter and mechanical properties. Fontijne Grotnes is constantly improving the pipe-expanding process in anticipation of new markets.

Fontijne Grotnes developed a straightening system, which is especially designed for small pipes ranging from 16”-30”. This system controls the straightness of the pipes in all directions within ½-API-, ISO and DNV-standards. It is designed in such a way that it can also be mounted on existing expanders. For larger pipes ranging from 32”-64” we have developed a software controlled infeed straightening system.

Certain exotic alloys have only a small difference between their tensile strength and yield strength. In case these exotic alloys are expanded, they could easily crack or even explode. By heating the product a larger difference between the tensile strength and yield strength can be achieved. For these applications Fontijne Grotnes designs expanders with heated dies which enable sizing and forming operations on high value alloys.

Our product line for the pipe industry also includes Pipe end expanders for sizing the end of large-diameter pipes to parallel, spherical, and semi-spherical joints. The joints are suitable for HSAW pipes, mainly used for the transportation of water and sewage, as well as other types of pipe.
The Fontijne Grotnes Pipe end expander guarantees a constant, reproducible process regarding diameter-, ovality tolerances and product shape.