Springback and end flare compensation in flexible roll forming

Flexible roll forming enables the forming of complex automotive components from Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) and Ultra High Strength Steel (UHSS) but common shape defects such as end flare and springback occur and need to be compensated. In flexible roll forming a pre-cut blank is fed through a set of rolls which are computer numerically controlled (CNC) to follow the 3D contour of the part. The company, dataM Sheet Metal Solutions, have established a new 3D flexible roll forming facility at Deakin University which allows the manufacture of flexible roll formed prototypes.

In this study, Deakin's flexible roll forming facility is employed to implement an approach to overcome springback and end flare defects in a flexible roll formed automotive component of variable width. To do this, the flexible roll forming process is simulated using the commercial software package Copra FEA. Non-uniform springback due to end flare is observed and a variable overbending approach developed and implemented to overcome this defect. Experimental validation is performed on Deakin's flexible roll forming facility and the results suggest that the flexible overbending approach can be used to control final shape in flexibly roll formed components.