Making metal bellows can be an incredibly interesting process. There are many steps for metal bellows manufacturing that must be followed properly in order to ensure fully-functional metal bellows that will last at full capacity for the full extent of their lifetime. Read on to learn the basic steps for making metal bellows for your manufacturing processes.

  1. Designing custom bellows: Custom bellows design focuses on twelve important factors: stress modes, flexing, pressure differential, rigid stops, spring rate, life cycles, temperature extremes, exposure, assembly method, vibration, end configuration, and geometric constraints. Each of these attributes must be carefully considered to make sure the custom bellows meet the requirements of the job they need to do.
  2. Making the bellows tube: The first step in manufacturing metal bellows is forming the bellows tube. Metal sheets are rolled into tubes, then welded; having a proper seam weld is essential to the final product, and poor welding can result in a defective end product. Poor welding can cause leaks, or worse, can cause splitting while forming the bellows, rendering the materials wasted.
  3. Forming metal bellows: Next, the metal bellows tube must be corrugated. There are a few different methods for doing this, with the most common being mechanical die forming and hydroforming. The tube is carefully shaped according to the exact specifications for the particular design, then rerolled to take its final shape. While rerolling is occasionally skipped, rerolling can optimize the performance of the bellows, making this an incredibly helpful step in the manufacturing process.
  4. Finalizing the bellows: From here, the final steps begin to ensure the metal bellows will perform to required specifications. These include final welding, trimming the bellows necks, and expanding the bellows necks to the correct size. These final details help to ensure high performance once installed, as well as a long lifespan. Following each of these exact steps can ensure perfect custom metal bellows every time, excellently suited to any and all customized needs.

Looking for custom metal bellows or metal expansion joints? Contact Triad Bellows with information on what sort of metal bellows or expansion joints you’re looking for to see what options are available for you.