Welding technology has changed dramatically over the last few decades. Although skilled welders always will be needed in manufacturing, mechanical welding devices can provide improvements over manual welding in terms of repeatability and throughput.

Commentary from the people interviewed at the International Conference on Hydroforming (Oct. 2003) indicate that trends include an increasing interest in forming aluminum and other lightweight materials; more use of tailored tubes; and that sheet hydroforming is expected to grow faster than tube hydroforming.

Tube hydroforming technology continues to develop in ways that improve part utility, economy, or process robustness. Auto parts that have recently been produced by hydroforming include roof rails, radiator enclosures, a front-end structural module, and roof rails.

High production threading of tube and pipe for use by the petroleum industry is accomplished using either mechanically actuated or digitally controlled, carbide tooled machines. The most effective way to deal with residual stress is to full body anneal each tube prior to machining; however, this may not be economically possible. One alternative is to limit the amount of energy that the tube is subjected to during machining. An examination of the cutting tools that are used to produce threaded product will reveal how the shape of the insert may affect the deformation of the tube.