A strategy for on-machine springback measurement in rotary draw bending using digital image-based laser tracking

Rotary draw bending is a commonly used metal forming technique for profile bending. Due to the elastic recovery of the material, springback compensation to control the bent product quality is one of the critical manufacturing issues. The realized bend angle has to be measured for springback compensation before removing the profile from the machine, and the bending process can follow an iterative approach until the product quality is satisfied. However, this trial-and-error is costly for batch production in manufacturing. An on-machine measurement technique is therefore developed to measure springback in rotary draw bending with an affordable laser and a webcam. An image processing technology is integrated with the manufacturing process to track the deformation and measure springback angle in real time, eliminating the need for the workpiece to be transferred to a measurement device. In this paper, bending experiments were conducted with AA6082 rectangular hollow profiles bent at 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees angles, and springback angles from the conventional manual measurement were compared to that from the on-machine measurement. Since the difference in springback measurement between the proposed and the conventional methods was within 0.15 degrees on average, it is demonstrated that the laser tracking, on-machine measurement is a feasible real-time springback measurement technique for Industry 4.0.

Automated summary

Rotary draw bending is a commonly used metal forming technique, where springback compensation is crucial. An on-machine measurement technique using affordable laser and webcam for real-time springback measurement has been developed. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of this new technique for real-time springback measurement in Industry 4.0.