Forming Behavior of Paperboard in Single Point Incremental Forming

An increased demand for sustainable materials has led to intensive research in the field of three-dimensional paperboard forming. To date, this work has focused on forming processes with shape-giving tools. However, individual shapes are often required, especially for large-format products. Incremental forming can be used in metal processing for small batches. In this article, the technology of incremental forming is transferred to paperboard. The results showed that elevated moisture content and a superimposed counter pressure significantly increased the forming limits. In addition, the use of polymer layers increased the shape accuracy. An extended understanding of the underlying mechanisms was achieved by analyzing the forming behavior. In uniaxial and biaxial characterization tests the influence of the moisture content on the forming behavior was investigated with conditions relevant for incremental forming. It was found that the bulge test is suitable to determine the most suitable moisture content regarding the forming limits and the spring back behavior in incremental forming. In addition, it was observed that the bearable elongations during the incremental forming of paperboard are significantly higher than in the established characterization tests. The reason for this is a compression of the fiber network during forming.