Abstract
The manufacturing of a metal bellows consists of the four main forming processes; deep-drawing, ironing, tube bulging and folding. Among these, the bulging and folding processes are critically important because the quality of metal bellows is greatly influenced by the forming conditions of these processes. In the present study, the finite element analysis technique is applied to the bulging and folding processes. The springback analysis is also called out. From the analysis results, it has been revealed that around the crown point the stress state is in one-directional tension and one-directional bending mode. Meanwhile, around the inner point of metal bellows it is in two-directional bending mode. It has also revealed that the thickness of metal bellows around the crown point is nearly uniform.