A duct-forming apparatus includes an apparatus frame, a forming piston assembly having a cylinder carried by the apparatus frame and a forming piston extendable from the cylinder. A duct-shaping assembly includes a form die having a form die interior and a forming surface provided in the form die interior; a forming assembly having a plurality of expandable forming sections provided in the form die adjacent to the forming surface; and a plurality of piston openings provided in the expandable forming sections, respectively, and adapted to receive the forming piston of the forming piston assembly. A duct-forming method is also disclosed.

A duct-forming apparatus includes an apparatus frame, a forming piston assembly having a cylinder carried by the apparatus frame and a forming piston extendable from the cylinder. A duct-shaping assembly includes a form die having a form die interior and a forming surface provided in the form die interior; a forming assembly having a plurality of expandable forming sections provided in the form die adjacent to the forming surface; and a plurality of piston openings provided in the expandable forming sections, respectively, and adapted to receive the forming piston of the forming piston assembly. A duct-forming method is also disclosed.

An apparatus for producing a tailored sheet metal strip, comprising at least one welding station, by means of which at least two sheet metal strips can be welded to one another along their longitudinal edges, and at least two strip feeding devices for respectively feeding one of the sheet metal strips into the at least one welding station, wherein the at least two strip feeding devices and the at least one welding station define a production line. A further-processing station for further processing is integrated in the production line downstream of the at least one welding station in the strip running direction and is equipped with tools for applying reinforcing material, to local points of at least one of the sheet metal strips which are connected to one another, for punching holes and/or for forming at least one of the sheet metal strips which are connected to one another.

One aspect relates to a process for preparing a ring electrode including the steps of a) providing a monolithic metal precursor, wherein the monolithic metal precursor includes an outer tube forming a first cavity of the precursor, and wherein the outer tube has a wall including in one section an inner tube forming a second cavity of the precursor; b) preparing a composite precursor by inserting a first sacrificial core element into the first cavity of the precursor provided in a) and a second sacrificial core element into the second cavity of the precursor provided in a); c) forming the composite precursor obtained in b) to obtain a formed composite having a smaller outer diameter than the composite precursor obtained in b); d) separating a composite disk from the formed composite obtained in c); e) removing the first and the second sacrificial core element from the composite disk obtained in d).

A striking mechanism device for a hand-held power tool has at least one hammer tube, in particular made of sheet metal. The hammer tube is provided to guide a hammer and/or a drive piston. The hammer tube is seam-freely longitudinally slit over at least substantially the entire longitudinal extent of the hammer tube.

A steel pipe collapse strength prediction model generation method, a steel pipe collapse strength prediction method, a steel pipe manufacturing characteristics determination method, and a steel pipe manufacturing method capable of highly accurately predicting the collapse strength of a steel pipe after forming or a coated steel pipe in consideration of the pipe-making strain during forming. Into a steel pipe collapse strength prediction model generated by the prediction model generation method, steel pipe manufacturing characteristics including the shape of a steel pipe to be predicted after forming, strength characteristics, and the pipe-making strain are input to predict the collapse strength after forming. Into a steel pipe collapse strength prediction model, steel pipe manufacturing characteristics including the shape of a coated steel pipe to be predicted after forming, strength characteristics, the pipe-making strain, and coating conditions are input to predict the collapse strength of the coated steel pipe.

A steel pipe collapse strength prediction model generation method, a steel pipe collapse strength prediction method, a steel pipe manufacturing characteristics determination method, and a steel pipe manufacturing method capable of highly accurately predicting the collapse strength of a steel pipe after forming or a coated steel pipe in consideration of the pipe-making strain during forming. Into a steel pipe collapse strength prediction model generated by the prediction model generation method, steel pipe manufacturing characteristics including the shape of a steel pipe to be predicted after forming, strength characteristics, and the pipe-making strain are input to predict the collapse strength after forming. Into a steel pipe collapse strength prediction model, steel pipe manufacturing characteristics including the shape of a coated steel pipe to be predicted after forming, strength characteristics, the pipe-making strain, and coating conditions are input to predict the collapse strength of the coated steel pipe.