Design of Roll-to-Roll Forming Process for Micro Pattern on the Thin Sheet Metal by Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

Roll-to-roll forming process is one of important metal processing technology because the process is simple and economical. These days, with these merits, roll-to-roll forming process is tried to be employed in manufacturing the circuit board, barrier ribs and solar cell plate. However, it is difficult to apply to the forming of micro scale or sub-micro scale pattern. In this study, the roll forming processing for the micro scale is designed and analyzed. The forming of micro pattern for small electric device such as LCD panel by incremental roll forming process is analyzed. Firstly, the optimum analysis conditions are found by several analyses. And then, formability is analyzed for various protrusion shapes at various forming temperatures. The formability is evaluated in terms of filling ratio and damage value. The filling ratio is defined from the tool geometry and critical damage is determined from the analysis of uniaxial tensile test. Finally, optimum forming conditions that guarantee the successful forming are found.