Control of residual stresses in roll forming through targeted adaptation of the roll gap

摘要

Roll forming is a continuous manufacturing process, which allows for the economical production of a wide range of profile geometries in large batches. When roll formed profiles are cut to length, process related residual stresses are released. This effect, also known as end flare, results in a deformation of the profile ends at the cutoff. However, typical roll formed profiles like linear guides or cable conduits require high dimensional accuracy having tight manufacturing tolerances to guarantee their functionality. Therefore, during process design and set up, countermeasures have to be applied to minimize end flare. In this paper a countermeasure to reduce end flare by targeted adaptation of the roll gap is presented and application limits are discussed. An explanatory model is developed, which shows the creation and reduction of residual stresses due to the reduced roll gap.