Influence of the mechanical model of titanium T40 on the predicted forces during incremental forming process

Abstract

Single point incremental forming process is considered as an innovative technology due to its ability of forming a variety of small batch without specific tools. Several fields, such as automotive and biomedical industries, can be concerned by the process. A solution to improve the flexibility and the productivity of the process, but also the complexity of the parts, is to use robots (serial or parallel) instead of rigid conventional machines. To guarantee the geometrical accuracy of the final part, the prediction of forming loads and final geometry associated to an elastic modeling of the robot is essential to optimize trajectories. In this context, the aim of this study is to investigate numerically the SPIF process of commercially pure titanium (T40) with a focus on the complexity of the strain paths, to highlight the influence of the mechanical model on the forming load prediction. Material data from the literature is introduced in the numerical simulation of an incremental forming operation of a truncated cone. The impact of the material behavior model on the load prediction and also on the strain and stress paths is examined.