Continuous flexible roll forming for three-dimensional surface part and the forming process control

Continuous flexible roll forming (CFRF) is an effective sheet metal-forming process used to manufacture three-dimensional surface parts. To obtain a final part with desired shape, the CFRF process should be systematically and accurately controlled in the longitudinal and transverse directions simultaneously. The major purpose of the present work is to establish a system of methods for controlling the continuous forming process. The target surface of desired part is represented by triangular mesh; the transverse control model for adjusting the shape of flexible roll is proposed based on the cubic B-spline curves; and the formulations to determine the downward displacement of upper roll is presented. Finally, the software for controlling CFRF process is developed, and the validity of the presented methods and the effectiveness of the developed software are demonstrated by CFRF test for a typical surface part.