Improving process performance in Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF)

Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) is a relatively new process in which a sheet clamped along the borders is progressively deformed through a hemispherical tool. The tool motion is CNC controlled and the path is designed using a CAD-CAM approach, with the aim to reproduce the final shape contour such as in the surface milling. The absence of a dedicated setup and the related high flexibility is the main point of strength and the reason why several researchers focused their attentions on the ISF process. On the other hand the process slowness is the most relevant drawback which reduces a wider industrial application. In the paper, a first attempt to overcome this process limitation is presented taking into account a relevant speed increasing respect to the values currently used.