Using an Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System to Estimate the Vertical Force in Single Point Incremental Forming

Abstract

Manufacturing processes are usually complex ones, involving a significant number of parameters. Unconventional manufacturing processes, such as incremental forming is even more complex, and the establishment of some analytical relationships between parameters is difficult, largely due to the nonlinearities in the process. To overcome this drawback, artificial intelligence techniques were used to build empirical models from experimental data sets acquired from the manufacturing processes. The approach proposed in this work used an adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system to extract the value of technological force on Z-axis, which appears during incremental forming, considering a set of technological parameters (diameter of the tool, feed and incremental step) as inputs. Sets of experimental data were generated and processed by means of the proposed system, to make use of the learning ability of it to extract the empirical values of the technological force from rough data.