Numerical Simulation of Incremental Sheet Forming by Simplified Approach

The Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) is a process, which can transform a flat metal sheet in a 3D complex part using a hemispherical tool(1). The final geometry of the product is obtained by the relative movement between this tool and the blank(2). The main advantage of that process is that the cost of the tool is very low compared to deep drawing with rigid tools(3). The main disadvantage is the very low velocity of the tool and thus the large amount of time to form the part. Classical contact algorithms give good agreement with experimental results, but are time consuming. A Simplified Approach for the contact management between the tool and the blank in ISF is presented here. The general principle of this approach is to imposed displacement of the nodes in contact with the tool at a given position. On a benchmark part, the CPU time of the present Simplified Approach is significantly reduced compared with a classical simulation performed with Abaqus implicit.