Aluminum alloys are widely used in engineering structures and components, where light-weight and corrosion resistance are required. The roll forming process is successfully used for materials that are difficult to form by other conventional methods because of spring back, as this process achieves plastic deformation without spring back. In addition, the roll forming improves the mechanical properties of the material, especially, its hardness, and also increases the corrosion rate.  In this study, an experimental investigation on roll compression forming of an aluminum alloy AA6101 tube is presented. Aluminum alloy tubes with an outer diameter of 40 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm, with a nominal tensile strength of 214 MPa, were compressed using a roll forming machine that developed pressures up to 150 kg/cm². It was found that a maximum of 15.5% reduction in the outer diameter without failure was achieved during roll forming at a pressure of 42 kg/cm². The post forming hardness, corrosion rate, micro structure and deformed grain size were also studied.

Key words: Roll forming, aluminum alloy, hardness, micro structure, corrosion rate.