Cold roll forming of metal–polymer–metal sandwich sheets offers a promising route for manufacturing lightweight profiles, but the coupled effects of layer architecture, elastic recovery, edge strain localization, thinning, and interfacial integrity remain insufficiently understood. This study develops a detailed finite element framework in ABAQUS/Explicit to investigate the cold progressive roll forming of AA2024/PVC/AA2024 sandwich sheets. The aluminum skins were modeled using an elasto-plastic constitutive law, while the PVC core was represented by an experimentally calibrated Mooney–Rivlin hyperelastic model. The Al/PVC interfaces were described using a surface-based cohesive formulation to capture interfacial opening, tangential slip, and cohesive degradation. The effects of PVC core thickness ratio, λ, and rolling velocity were evaluated through global forming indicators, including springback displacement magnitude, maximum longitudinal edge strain, bend-zone thickness reduction, and total process energy, together with local structural-integrity indicators such as aluminum plastic strain, PVC principal logarithmic strain, and cohesive damage. The results show that λ is the dominant parameter governing the forming response, while rolling velocity has a secondary process-path effect. The normalized multi-objective assessment identified λ=20% at 0.2 m/s as the best balanced configuration within the investigated numerical design space. Compared with the monolithic AA2024 reference, this configuration reduced springback displacement, maximum longitudinal edge strain, bend-zone thinning, and process energy by approximately 87.6%, 34.7%, 24.7%, and 44.3%, respectively. It also maintained limited cohesive damage and controlled PVC-core deformation compared with high-PVC configurations. The framework provides a numerically verified basis for comparing layer architecture and process-speed effects in metal–polymer sandwich roll forming.
