Rolling-induced bending mechanism and effect of asymmetric rolling on bending behavior of Ti/Al composite plates

Dissimilar metal laminated composite plates are highly valuable in various applications due to the excellent properties of their constituent materials. However, composite plates produced through roll bonding often exhibit bending, challenging their practical use. Analyzing the underlying causes of bending in roll-bonded composite plates and developing optimized processes to mitigate this issue hold significant theoretical and practical importance. In this study, the commercial finite element simulation software ABAQUS was utilized to simulate the deformation behavior of 6061 aluminum alloy and pure titanium TA1 during symmetric rolling bonding. The effects of plastic deformation differences between dissimilar metals, uneven stress distribution across the thickness, and elastic recovery after rolling on the bending of composite plates were systematically investigated. Finite element models were established for titanium/aluminum composite plates under asymmetric rolling conditions, including identical-diameter differential-speed rolling and differential-diameter identical-speed rolling. The findings reveal that both differential diameters and differential speeds effectively mitigate the bending phenomena caused by deformation incompatibility between dissimilar materials and the uneven stress distribution. Based on these findings, an optimized differential-diameter and differential-speed rolling model was developed. With a low roll diameter of 210 mm and a speed ratio of 1.09, the flattest roll-bonded titanium/aluminum composite plates were achieved compared to other conditions. Additionally, the results of rolling experiments confirmed the high accuracy of the finite element simulations. This study provides valuable guidance for improving the bending behavior of composite plates made from metals with significant performance differences.