Mathematical modeling and analysis of the tailor rolled blank manufacturing process

A tailor rolled blank (TRB) is a plate of continuously varying thickness with the advantages of lightweight, high strength, and good surface quality. However, it is required that the roll gap can be adjusted online, and the plate and roll produce large elastic deformation in the TRB manufacturing process. These characteristics make the modeling of the force and deformation parameters more difficult. A new mathematical model of roll separating force in the TRB manufacturing process is established taking into account the feature of deformation in this research. The elastic deformation of the strip and the flattening deformation of the roll are considered in order to improve the prediction accuracy of the results. The roll separating forces of the entrance elastic compression region and the exit elastic recovery region are computed using the generalized Hooke's law. A new velocity field is proposed based on the deformation characteristics of the plastic region and velocity boundary conditions, and the power functionals of the internal deformation, shear, friction, and tension are calculated. The analytical models of force and deformation parameters combined the elastic and plastic deformation regions are obtained through iterative operation, which satisfies the convergence condition of the roll separating force and roll flattening. The roll separating force data obtained by the model in this research are compared with the actual measured values in the laboratory, and the deviation value is small, which proves the computational precision of the present model. Additionally, the variations of the entrance velocity and flow volume per second during the TRB manufacturing process are shown, and the influences of the tension and friction factor on the neutral angle and roll separating force are illustrated.