Evaluation of Undesirable Deformations in Complex, Hollow Aluminium Extrusions due to Roll Bending

This paper presents a series of experiments where an aluminium extrusion with a complex, hollow crosssection was formed by roll bending. The extrusion is intended to be used as a rail for a mobile instrumentation platform that requires both straight and bent rail sections in different configurations. In order to develop the system to be highly accurate, precise and functional under all operating conditions, it is vital to know the ` nominal' local cross-sectional deformations due to the bending process, and the associated tolerances that can be achieved. The results presented herein are based on nine rail segments that underwent identical bending operations. The differences between the rails were found to be relatively small as seen from a product functionality perspective; thus, the observed deformations are considered acceptable for the application considered. These results will also serve as a reference for future experiments with other bending parameters and methods in the efforts to identify the most technically and commercially viable solution.