Introduction of laminated supporting tools in water jet incremental sheet metal forming

Abstract

This contribution presents the introduction of laminated supporting tools in water jet incremental sheet metal forming (WJISMF) process. In WJISMF the main tool is a high-velocity water jet (WJ) instead of a rigid tool. The influence of the main tool trajectory on the forming outcome in WJISMF is observed and optimized in order to reduce the forming time and improve the product quality. Laminated tools are fabricated with abrasive water jet (AWJ) machining from aluminium plates of different thicknesses. The parts formed in this investigation are measured with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and results are compared by means of forming time, parts symmetry and achieved geometry, which is defined with the supporting tool.