Incremental metal forming processes in manufacturing

Abstract

Incremental sheet metal forming (ISMF) has demonstrated its great potential to form complex three-dimensional parts without using component-specific tools against the conventional stamping operation. Forming components without component-specific tooling in ISMF provides a competitive alternative for economically and effectively fabricating low-volume functional sheet metal products; hence, it offers a valid manufacturing process to match the need of mass customization, which is regarded as the future of manufacturing. In ISMF process, sheet is clamped in a fixture/frame with an opening window on a programmable machine, and a hemispherical/spherical ended tool is programmed to move in a predefined path giving shape to the clamped sheet by progressively deforming a small region in incremental steps. Although formability in incremental forming is higher than that of conventional forming, the capability to form components with desired accuracy and surface finish without fracture becomes an important requirement for commercializing the ISMF processes. This chapter presents various configurations developed to incrementally form the sheet metal components, experimental as well as numerical methods for estimating forming limits, procedures for enhancing the accuracy, and methodologies for tool path generation.