CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 263266

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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Bendingrolling combinations for strips with optimized cross-section geometries

P. Groche (2)a,*, J. Ringler a, T. Abu Shreehah b
a
Institute for Production Engineering and Forming Machines, Technische Universitat Darmstadt, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tala Technical University, Amman, Jordan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Sheet metal with optimized cross-sections open up new possibilities, e.g. in lightweight design by
Bending
minimizing weight without reducing products strength or stiffness, in heat transfer performance and in
Rolling
economic usage of resources. Shape rolling processes are state-of-the-art for proles with variable
Linear bend splitting
thickness in transverse direction. The challenge for a successful process is a homogeneous material ow
in strip direction. Even if several shape rolling steps are used, geometric restrictions still exist. These
restrictions can be reduced by applying a combination of bending and rolling processes. The basic
principle as well as theoretical and experimental results will be discussed in this paper.
2009 CIRP.

1. Introduction
Rising raw material and energy prices have lead to an increasing
demand for cost-effective, lightweight and highly loadable
components. In mass market products those components are
often made from sheet metal. Therefore sheet metal is largely used
in industrial applications such as structural elements in car bodies,
transportation industry, architecture, rack systems and in furni-
ture industry.
The geometry of conventional sheet metal is characterized by a
homogenous thickness (Fig. 1). This property limits the possibility
of weight minimization, the objective of lightweight design [1].
Furthermore, in heat exchange or chemical engineering tasks the
size of the surface can only be increased by changing both sides of
the workpiece, which is often not suitable due to space restrictions.
Therefore state-of-the-art research aims to develop new
manufacturing processes for strips with variable sheet metal
thickness. Besides zones of reduced thickness geometric features
like ribs are sought after.
2. Processes for variable sheet thickness
The modication of sheet thickness has been achieved rstly by
incremental bulk forming processes like localized hammering [2].
Recent developments use rolling and welding technologies.
Examples shown in Fig. 1 are so-called tailor welded respectively
tailor rolled blanks and shape rolling processes for strips with
variable thickness in transverse and longitudinal direction. Tailor
welded blanks are produced in increasing quantities and are
employed successfully in automotive industry. Here blanks with
different thicknesses or properties are welded together, mostly by
laser welding. By means of exible rolling processes tailor rolled
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: groche@ptu.tu-darmstadt.de (P. Groche).
blanks are produced on rolling mills with moveable rolls to adjust
the sheet thickness in longitudinal direction [3].
Shape rolling enables the production of strips with a widely
adjustable cross-section [4]. During this process the sheet
thickness is locally reduced and the strip width is increased. To
prevent the occurrence of atness defects the material must ow in
lateral direction only. A material ow which is even partially
directed towards the strip length or height results in undesired
waviness or beads in the strip. This can be prevented when the
unintentional material ow in thickness and longitudinal direction
is only due to elastic deformations.
Local increase of sheet thickness, e.g. ribs, can be achieved by
lamination during bending processes like roll forming. If higher
stiffness or heat transfer capabilities are demanded joining of
material is usually necessary. Compared to that integral construc-
tion would be more advantageous concerning local stiffness
distribution, residual stresses or material handling. Up to now,
rolling processes are not used for that purpose.
Splitting processes offer the possibility to alter the local
thickness of sheet metal [5]. For axially symmetrical components
split spinning is used to create two anges out of a rotational disk
blank. Investigations show that the theoretical modeling of these
kinds of processes is highly demanding [6].
The forming process linear ow splitting enables the produc-
tion of branched proles in integral style. In this forming process
obtuse angled splitting rolls and supporting rolls are used to create
bifurcations in sheet metal at ambient temperature. By linear ow
splitting the surface of the band edge is increased and two anges
are formed [7]. During the process high hydrostatic compressive
stresses act inside the local forming zone. These lead to locally
increased formability of the material and thereby to the realization
of the large strains necessary to enlarge the band edge.
Metallurgical phenomena during the process are described by
Muller et al. [8].
Though linear ow splitting allows the local modication of
thickness in a strip, it can only be adopted to band edges. Local

0007-8506/$ see front matter 2009 CIRP.

doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2009.03.051
264 P. Groche et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 263266

Fig. 1. Different processes for strips with variable sheet thicknesses. Fig. 3. Initial geometry of (symmetrical) linear bend splitting.

modications of thicknesses in the zone between the band edges ing on the relevant system and process parameters. Pure
need additional measures. A preliminary bending operation can geometrical modeling can be used to determine the geometrical
enable a exible positioning of zones with altered strip thickness. prole parameters, because material ow in longitudinal direction
The splitting process performed thereafter is called linear bend and material damage can be neglected if the tool system is properly
splitting. adjusted [7]. The investigations are based on the assumption of
volume constancy and neglect of material ow in feed direction (x).
3. Principle of linear bend splitting Then characteristic states of cross-section evolution can be
described in the yz plane. For mathematical purposes the
Linear bend splitting is a rolling process for the production of cross-section of the formed work piece is subdivided into different
bifurcations in integral style out of plain sheet metal. The semi- areas A1A6 (Figs. 35). For sake of clear arrangement the case of
nished part is a bent sheet metal which is formed at ambient symmetrical splitting will be considered.
temperature by a tool system, consisting of at least one obtuse angled The cross-section of the bent sheet is subdivided into the three
splitting roll and two supporting rolls. In order to transport the sheet areas A1i, A2i and A3i (Fig. 3). The initial cross-sectional area Ain is
material through the roll gap the supporting rolls can be driven. the sum of the areas of each section:
During the linear bend splitting process the splitting roll dives
Ain A1i A2i A3i (1)
into the sheet material in the area of the bent edge. If the length of
the newly created ange needs to be increased further, additional A1i L1i S0 (2)
forming steps are necessary. Then the positions of splitting and
supporting rolls have to be adjusted to positions that allow a p 2
A2i r 2  h (3)
deeper diving of the splitting roll into the workpiece. 4
A linear bend split prole consists of two areas with original
A3i L2i S0 (4)
thickness, an area of reduced thickness and one newly created
ange if adjusted appropriately. In case of symmetrical splitting
that means the symmetry plane of the splitting roll coincides with
the middle plane of the sheet metal between the supporting rolls
the area of reduced thickness has the same thickness as the newly
created ange.
Adjusting the splitting roll to a position where the gap for the
newly created ange is closed allows running the process without
forming a new ange. In this case only the thickness of the sheet
metal is reduced. Fig. 2 shows the process principle of linear bend
splitting in case of bifurcation creation (left) and in case of
thickness reduction only (right).
If at strips are to be manufactured the bend split part has to be
bend back after reaching the desired length of the newly created
ange.

4. Theoretical modeling

A theoretical model is necessary to predict the important design Fig. 4. Geometry of symmetrical linear bend splitting during stages 2.

parameters thickness and length of the produced anges depend-

Fig. 2. Linear bend splitting process principle; creation of bifurcations (case1, left)
and thickness reduction only (case 2, right). Fig. 5. Aperture of the geometry stages 1 and 2.
 P. Groche et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 263266 265

In the mathematical approach three different process stages

were considered:

 Stage 1. Thickness reduction in the area of the bending edge.

Contact between splitting roll and sheet metal is restricted to the
lower bevel surface and the radius area of the splitting roll. The
material ow is directed downwards, perpendicular to the
horizontal plane.
 Stage 2. Contact between the splitting roll and the sheet metal
takes place also in the upper radius area and the bevel surface of
the splitting roll. The material starts lling the area bound by the
splitting roll radius, the upper bevel surface of the splitting roll
and the working radius of the upper supporting roll.
 Stage 3. When the gap between splitting and upper supporting
roll is lled, forming of the newly created ange begins. At this
point, the strain is concentrated in front of the working radius of
the splitting roll. The material is now deformed and distributed
in both upper and lower anges.
Fig. 6. Geometry of symmetrical linear bend splitting during stage 3.
During the rst two stages the characteristic zones shown in
Fig. 4 evolve from the bent geometry. In stage 1 area A6 and in stage
2 area A5 are increased. With given displacement of the splitting supporting and splitting rolls. Therefore the increase of the lengths
roll yges the values of a1, b1, b2, b3 and b4 can be determined with of the lower and upper anges after a movement of splitting and
simple geometrical relations. The areas Ai can be quantied by the supporting rolls yink can be calculated by
following equations:
  S0
ADZ 2yink (16)
p 2 a1 b2 2
A2 r 2  h 1  (5)
4 90
1 ADZ 1 ADZ
az yges (17)
sinb1 sina0  b3 2 b a1  a0 p 2 2 s fL 2 s fU
A3 R Rr  2 h
sinb3 360
az yges
y2ges sin2a0 a0  b1 p 2 ages yges (18)
  Ryges sina0  R cosa0
4 360
Ryges
 sinb1 (6)
2 5. Experimental investigations
In Fig. 5 the left illustration are valid for stage 1 and the right
illustration for stage 2. Experimental investigations were carried out in a reversing
process on a roll forming mill. The commercial aluminum alloy
r  yges cosa0 2 tanb5 b 2 type EN-AW 5754 (AlMg3) with 5.8 mm nominal thickness and a
A4  5 h p stage 1 (7)
2 360 length of 3 m was used as sheet metal. The aluminum work pieces
were bent at right angle with length L1i = 86 mm and length
tana0 2
A4 r  yges cosa0 2  h  stage 2 (8) L3i = 38.5 mm. The design parameters of the splitting roll are
2
a = 308 and working radius R = 5 mm. The working radii of the
b4 p 2 supporting rolls h have been selected to 5 mm. All experiments
A5 r 2  h stage 1 (9)
360 were conducted with a constant feed rate of 3 m/min. The tool
system is installed to an incremental splitting depth of yink = 2 mm.
A5 ADZ In order to feed the sheet metal into the roll gap the supporting
A2i  A2 A3 A4 rolls are driven. After each step the width of the supporting rolls is
reduced by taking off segments. This procedure is repeated until a
cosa0 r yges  r2 nal splitting depth of 20 mm is reached.
stage 2 (10)
2 sina0 cosa0 First series of experiments conrm that linear bend splitting is
technically feasible without failure of the work pieces. Fig. 7
A6 A3i ADZ A3i A2i  A2 A3 A4 A5 stage 1 (11)
illustrates a typical stage sequence and shows the formation of the
A6 L3 s0 L3i  az yges s0 stage 2 (12)

The increase of the length of the ange az(yges) is given by

ADZ
az yges stage 1 (13)
s0

2A5
az yges stage 2 (14)
s0 r  h  yges cosa0 =cosa0 

The thickness of the produced anges can be determined for

both stages to

s fL r  h  yges cosa0 (15)

During stage 3 the lower and upper anges are lengthened by

uniformly distributed displacement of the material in the ADZ
marked area (Fig. 6). The thicknesses of the upper and lower
anges sfL and sfU respectively are dened by the roll gaps between Fig. 7. Stage sequence and prototype of EN-AW 5754.
266 P. Groche et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 263266
Fig. 8. Variation of the thicknesses of the anges (EN-AW 5754).
Fig. 9. Linear bend split sheet metal without bifurcation AISI 1008 (DC01).
above described material ow during the three different stages of
the linear bend splitting process. The anges run out in the zones
between the radii of the rolls. The ange outlet angles lay in a range
of tolerance of 18 with respect to the splitting roll angle (a = 308).
The desired ange thickness sf of 2.9 mm (half of the origin sheet
thickness) is reached. Due to exibility of the used tool system,
manufactured proles show an increased thickness in the area which
is located in between the supporting rolls.
The comparison of thickness and length of the newly created
anges between experiment and analytic model in Fig. 8 shows
good accordance in stages 1 and 2. Forces in these stages of sheet
thickness reduction are comparatively low. In stage 3 the
thicknesses of newly created and thickness reduced anges
exhibit larger deviations between experiment and analytical
calculation. These deviations are caused by the exibility of the
used roll stand. In particular the gap between upper supporting
roll and splitting roll is enlarged by elastic compliance of the tool
system. This is not considered in the analytic model. Elastic
deformations of the tool system are also responsible for deviations
between the predetermined incremental splitting depth of
yink = 2 mm and the observed increase in total splitting depth
during each step. Not till the forces stay at a constant level, which
starts at a total splitting depth of approximately 10 mm, the
chosen alignment for the position of the tool results in a constant
incremental splitting depth.
The feasibility of the process combination bending and splitting
for purposes of local thickness reduction (case 2) could also be
proven experimentally. Fig. 9 shows a manufactured sheet metal
with a modied cross-section including an area of reduced
thickness. According to Fig. 8 the thickness of the cross-section
can also be predicted by the aforementioned assumptions. The
sheet made of AISI 1008 (DC01) has a nominal thickness of
2.45 mm. In the middle the thickness is reduced by 0.55 mm on a
length of 27 mm. The work piece shows a signicant surface
roughness leveling with reproducible values of Ra between 0.1 and
0.2 mm. Measurements of cross-section areas before and after
linear bend splitting show differences of less than 1%. This justies
the assumption of negligible material ow in longitudinal
direction which was the basis for the theoretical modeling. The
reverse bending process necessary to achieve straight strips with
optimized cross-section geometries can be realized on roll forming
mills.
6. Conclusion
The new forming process linear bend splitting offers the
possibility to produce one-piece bifurcated proles out of sheet
metal. On the basis of analytic calculations, the length of the newly
created ange and the reduced thickness in adjacent areas can be
predicted in terms of tool geometry and process parameters. First
experiments using the tooling system for thickness reducing show
the possibility of producing thickness reduced areas with excellent
surface roughness and without waviness or beads in the strip. The
new process combination allows the facility to increase the surface
quality and the realization of modern lightweight design with a
minimized effort. Inline manufacture and the possibilities of
further processing the linear bend split or thickness reduced strips
will be investigated in the future.
Acknowledgements
The investigations presented in this paper were carried out
within the research project B2: Basics of linear bend splitting of
the Collaborative Research Centre 666 Integral sheet metal design
with higher order bifurcationsDevelopment, Production, Evalua-
tion (CRC 666). The authors thank the German Research
Foundation (DFG) for founding and supporting the CRC 666.
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