Gas springs applied to various industrial fields are generally composed of a cylinder, a piston rod, a cover, and a seal mount. Because of the thin wall of the cylinder, small gas springs are manufactured using a roller forming process that presses the cylinder wall into a groove of cover in the cylinder. In this study, finite element analysis and process design of roller forming are performed to systematically manufacture the small gas spring and develop a roller forming machine. In order to perform roller forming analysis, tensile tests of structural steel pipe are performed and mechanical properties are analyzed. Roller forming process parameters such as radius and depth of roller grooves are derived using the incompressible condition of plastic deformation theory and the results of finite element roller forming analysis. Using the derived roller shape, a roller forming machine is developed and prototypes of the small gas spring are manufactured. Finally, the dimensional accuracy of the manufactured gas spring prototypes is analyzed through three-dimensional shape measurement.

In this study, the fatigue properties of press die steel, such as SKD11, and three high-durability die steel for the cold forming of ultra-high-strength steel sheets are evaluated. Specimens for fatigue, tensile, and hardness tests are manufactured through the heat treatment recommended by steelmakers and ultra-high precision processing. The general mechanical properties and fatigue properties are derived from hardness, tensile, and fatigue tests for four die steel. The tensile and fatigue properties of die steel derived through the tests are compared and analyzed. In particular, the correlation between the fatigue limit and the general mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation is analyzed, which allows relational expressions to be obtained through regression analysis. Finally, the study confirms that applying high-durability die steel is necessary for improving the die life in the manufacturing of press dies for ultra-high-strength steel sheets.