Experimental and numerical investigation of grid sheet bending behavior in four-roll bending

Grid sheet is a sandwich material consisting of two metal face sheets and a core of woven wire mesh that are joined by welding. It has been designed to act as an actively cooled heat shield, e.g. for steam turbine casings. For this purpose, cylindrical parts have to be produced from initially flat grid sheet. This paper focuses on four-roll bending of grid sheet. It is shown that springback and the number of failed spot welds after forming can be reduced by stress relief annealing and appropriate forming conditions. A finite element model of roll bending of grid sheet is presented, which has been set up to predict springback and spot weld failure.