Abstract

Twisted shape of metal, like a propeller or screw, are usually manufactured by machining. However, machining processes generate many metal chips, resulting in yield loss. This paper proposed a new processing method called, “twist rolling”, which uses a pair of tapered rolls to obtain a continuous twisted shape. The effect of taper and skew angles on twist angle was investigated. The finite element analyses (FEA) and experiments were conducted for clarifying the effect of taper and skew angles. A commercial code, ELFEN, was used for the FEA, and a prototype machine was built for the verification using aluminium sheet metals. The FEA and experimental results were qualitatively in good agreement. The twist angle increased with the increase of the taper and skew angles. The sheet metal angle increased with the decrease of the sheet thickness. This study successfully verified the feasibility of the proposed method, “twist rolling”.