Recent Developments and Trends in Sheet Metal Forming

Tomasz Trzepieciński

doi:10.3390/met10060779

Abstract

Sheet metal forming (SMF) is one of the most popular technologies for obtaining finished products in almost every sector of industrial production, especially in the aircraft, automotive, food and home appliance industries. Parallel to the development of new forming techniques, numerical and empirical approaches are being developed to improve existing and develop new methods of sheet metal forming. Many innovative numerical algorithms, experimental methods and theoretical contributions have recently been proposed for SMF by researchers and business research centers. These methods are mainly focused on the improvement of the formability of materials, production of complex-shaped parts with good surface quality, speeding up of the production cycle, reduction in the number of operations and the environmental performance of manufacturing. This study is intended to summarize recent development trends in both the numerical and experimental fields of conventional deep-drawing, spinning, flexible-die forming, electromagnetic forming and computer-controlled forming methods like incremental sheet forming. The review is limited to the considerable changes that have occurred in the SMF sector in the last decade, with special attention given to the 2015–2020 period. The progress observed in the last decade in the area of SMF mainly concerns the development nonconventional methods of forming difficult-to-form lightweight materials for automotive and aircraft applications. In evaluating the ecological convenience of SMF processes, the tribological aspects have also become the subject of great attention.

Highlights

Sheet metal forming (SMF) techniques are widely used in many industries to produce final-shaped components from a workpiece
In incremental sheet forming (ISF), called “dieless forming”, a sheet metal blank is clamped with the help of a blank holder and a tool with a hemispherical end incrementally forms the sheet into the desired shape
This study gives an overview of the main topics concerning the development of sheet metal forming methods including spinning and shear spinning, flow forming, incremental sheet forming including water jet sheet forming, flexible-die forming, multipoint die forming, solid granular medium forming, electromagnetic and electrohydraulic forming

Summary

Introduction

Sheet metal forming (SMF) techniques are widely used in many industries to produce final-shaped components from a workpiece. Other factors that affect the final shape of the components include the geometry of the tool (i.e., punch-to-die clearance, die and punch radii) [3,4], friction conditions (i.e., dry or lubricated contact, lubricant type, contact pressure) [5,6,7,8,9], technological parameters (i.e., forming temperature, forming speed,) [10,11,12], properties of tool material [13,14,15] and initial surface topography [16,17,18].

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Conclusion