SIMULATION ANALYSES OF A NON-KINEMATICAL CONICAL ROLL BENDING PROCESS WITH CONICAL ROLLS

In order to reuse the existing conical rolls of the kinematical conical roll bending process, attachments are added in the non-kinematical conical roll bending process to reduce the velocity of the top edge of the plate. In contrast with a kinematical conical roll bending machine, the driving outer rolls of a non-kinematical conical roll bending machine are allowed to slide on the zone close to the top edge of the plate due to the friction between the attachments and the plate. Therefore, the appropriate velocity obtained at the top edge of the plate makes it possible to roll the plate as using the kinematical conical roll bending process. This paper deals with the simulation analyses of the non-kinematical multi-pass conical roll bending process based on the finite element method. A well bent cone was obtained compared with the ideal cone and the numerical simulation results show that the bent cone depends on the static and dynamic friction coefficients for a geometrical configuration with an appropriate span of the outer rolls.