Bending-rolling combinations for strips with optimized cross-section geometries

Sheet metal with optimized cross-sections open up new possibilities, e.g. in lightweight design by minimizing weight without reducing product's strength or stiffness, in heat transfer performance and in economic usage of resources. Shape rolling processes are state-of-the-art for profiles with variable thickness in transverse direction. The challenge for a successful process is a homogeneous material flow in strip direction. Even if several shape rolling steps are used, geometric restrictions still exist. These restrictions can be reduced by applying a combination of bending and rolling processes. The basic principle as well as theoretical and experimental results will be discussed in this paper.