Optimising part quality in the flexible roll forming of an automotive component

Roll forming is increasingly used in the automotive industry for the manufacture of structural and crash components from ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS). Springback and end flare are common shape defects in roll forming and increase with material strength. The conventional roll forming process is limited to the manufacture of components with a uniform cross section while flexible roll forming can produce parts with variation in width and depth. In this paper, the flexible roll forming of an automotive component from three different high-strength sheets of steel is investigated. The experiments are carried out with a flexible roll forming prototyping facility and combined with finite element analysis. The study shows that the flexible roll forming of high-strength automotive components is possible. Springback and end flare depend on the material strength and the forming sequence and can be reduced with a flexible forming approach where the material is first overbent followed by bending back. Wrinkling of the flange was observed but the severity of wrinkling reduced with an increasing number of forming passes.