Abstract
Single point incremental forming is used for rapid prototyping of sheet metal parts. This forming technology was applied to the fabrication of thin shell micropyramids of aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium foils. A single point tool used had a tip radius of 0.1 mm or 0.01 mm. An ultrasonic spindle with axial vibration was implemented for improving the shape accuracy of micropyramids formed on 5–12 micrometers-thick aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium foils. The formability was also investigated by comparing the forming limits of micropyramids of aluminum foil formed with and without ultrasonic vibration. The shapes of pyramids incrementally formed were truncated pyramids, twisted pyramids, stepwise pyramids, and star pyramids about 1 mm in size. A much smaller truncated pyramid was formed only for titanium foil for qualitative investigation of the size reduction on forming accuracy. It was found that the ultrasonic vibration improved the shape accuracy of the formed pyramids. In addition, laser heating increased the forming limit of aluminum foil and it is more effective when both the ultrasonic vibration and laser heating are applied.
Highlights
Functional miniaturized structures of various materials will be widely applied to sensors, filters, biotesters, bioscaffold, etc. in the near future
Microcutting [1], micro-laser-machining [2], micro-electric discharge machining [3,4], and microforming [5] have been intensively studied, and recently, micro-additive-manufacturing combined with other microprocessing [6] is more and more important in tailor-made manufacturing or high-mix low-volume production of complex parts
Incremental forming with a single point tool is regarded as a rapid prototyping process for sheet metal forming because no die is needed and parts of free-form surfaces can be fabricated incrementally [7]
Summary
Functional miniaturized structures of various materials will be widely applied to sensors, filters, biotesters, bioscaffold, etc. in the near future. Microcutting [1], micro-laser-machining [2], micro-electric discharge machining [3,4], and microforming [5] have been intensively studied, and recently, micro-additive-manufacturing combined with other microprocessing [6] is more and more important in tailor-made manufacturing or high-mix low-volume production of complex parts. This technology can be applied to the fabrication of various shapes of sheet metal parts [9].
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