Influence of a multi-step process on the thickness reduction error of sheet metal in a flexible rolling process

Flexible rolling is a forming process based on thickness reduction, and the precision of thickness reduction is the key factor affecting bending deformation. The major purpose of the present work is to solve the problem of bending deformation error caused by insufficient thickness reduction. Under the condition of different rolling reductions with the same sheet thickness and the same thickness reduction with different sheet thicknesses, the thickness reduction error of sheet metal is analyzed. In addition, the bending deformation of sheet metal under the same conditions is discussed and the influence of the multi-step forming process on the thickness reduction error is studied. The results show that, under the condition of the same sheet thickness, the thickness reduction error increases with increasing rolling reduction because of an increase in work hardening. As rolling reduction increases, the longitudinal bending deformation decreases because of the decrease of the maximum thickness difference. Under the condition with the same thickness reduction, the thickness reduction error increases because of the decrease of the rolling force with increasing sheet thickness. As the sheet thickness increases, the longitudinal bending deformation increases because of the increase in the maximum thickness difference. A larger bending deformation is divided into a number of small bending deformations in a multi-step forming process, avoiding a sharp increase in the degree of work hardening; the thickness reduction error is effectively reduced in the multi-step forming process. Numerical simulation results agree with the results of the forming experiments.