Experimental Study on a New Method of Double Side Incremental Forming

Abstract

This paper presents a new configuration for sheet metal incremental forming using DSIF (Double Sided Incremental Forming) to overcome the limitation of single point incremental forming (SPIF). The new process can produce geometrical features on either side of the initial plane of the sheet without changing setup. A component having such challenging features is selected to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method and a contour tool path is generated using UniGraphics (UG) surface machining module and formed by mounting the new setup on a CNC milling machine. The final formed shape was scanned and compared to the designed profile. In addition, two more components having cylindrical and spherical geometries are formed to study the effect of geometry on the accuracy of the component that can be produced by using the proposed method. A simple analysis model has been developed to explain the effect of squeezing and stretching to the part elongation during the DSIF process.