Finite Element Simulation of Roll Forming and Ring Rolling
FEA & CFD Based Simulation Design Analysis Virtual prototyping MultiObjective Optimization
Roll forming is a specific process within the metal forming industry. Characteristics of that method are high flexibility, low machine and tooling cost, and very good productivity. But like other metal forming methods, roll forming today is still a kind of “black art.” It is very difficult to understand what happens to the material during the forming process. Difficulties such as faults appearing and problems in setting up new roll sets on the mill are not uncommon. In a trial & error approach, one has to produce a whole roll set and do the machine set-up in order to find potential weaknesses in the roll forming process - a costly and time-consuming approach causing undesired machine downtimes.
Rolling is one of the most diverse forming processe in the forming technology. It is used for the production of semi-finished as well as finished products. Rolling processes are used in all areas of forming technology, both in hot forging and cold forming, and of course in sheet metal forming. There is a multitude of rolling processes. Some are named here: flat rolling, profile rolling, tube rolling, roll forming, forge rolling, cross-wedge rolling, wire rolling, and cross-row rolling.
Ring Rolling
Ring rolling is a forming process for the production of rings. The ring rolling processes enable the production of rings with diameters ranging from ten centimeters to ten meters. Because of very high demands in accuracy and reliability required for production of ring and wheel rolling, efficient simulation is needed for detail investigation and verification in extremely high-performance finite element (FEA) simulation software.
