Improvement of Wall Angle in AISI 304 Stainless Steel Cup using Five Stage Single Point Incremental Forming

Abstract

Incremental forming is a non-conventional metal forming process which is widely used to produce the customized parts especially in medical and aerospace industries. One of the challenges encountered in the single stage process is the maximum wall angle of the component that can be formed to a maximum possible depth without fracture. Many strategies have been tried by the researchers in the past to overcome this limitation. The aim of this research work is to investigate the effect of 5 stage incremental forming process in improving the formation of maximum wall angle to a possible height which is not possible in single stage incremental forming. Also, the different strain measurements are carried out to identify the region at which the fracture is likely to occur in the produced part. It is observed from single stage incremental forming process for a wall angle of 64ï‚°, max. depth of 45mm is achieved in the part produced. The current 5 stage incremental forming process reached the max. height of 54 mm with a wall angle of 76ï‚° successfully. The maximum thickness strain of 75% is observed at a distance of 18mm from the bottom end of the flange of a formed component.