Single-Stage to Multi-Stage Incremental Sheet Forming Technology

Abstract

The incremental sheet forming (ISF) is a reliable area where the industry can focus in the future due to the enormous opportunities available for automation. The highly customized, non-homogeneous, and user-oriented sheet metal products can be manufactured employing the process since no dies are required during forming. Much complex geometry for biomedical, automobile, and aircraft industries are made using the ISF process. ISF has yet to be fully implemented in mainstream high-value manufacturing industries due to some challenges such as springback, poor surface integrity, and higher production time. ISF performance depends on various process parameters like vertical step depth, feed rate, spindle speed, angle of the cone, toolpath, intermetallic friction, and direction of the piece of sheet been cut from the original sheet. It also depends on deformation mechanisms like membrane stretching, bending, and through thickness-shear and their relationship with the geometric accuracy in SPIF. Although there are many advantages of SPIF compared with conventional forming, some drawbacks drag this technology away from the employment into the industry. Hence, the progress of the research is moving towards multi-stage, robot-assisted, duplex incremental forming. This chapter includes various process parameters and toolpath strategies of incremental forming and the effect of the angle interval between stages and the number of stages on springback and equivalent plastic strain with a case study showing the effect of the number of stages on thickness distribution in multi-stage incremental forming.