Experimental Investigation And Analytical Model For Improving The Thickness Distribution In Multi-Point Incremental Forming In Sheet Metal

An increase in demand for the development of new product and its manufacturing techniques which adopts certain attributes to sustain in the market. Incremental sheet forming (ISF) is an easily adoptable and unconventional technique in manufacturing used in order to get the complex shapes in sheet metal. This process is mainly developed to reduce the costs of forming process without damaging the material. It has the potential to transfigure forming, and producing it obtainable to all levels of fabrication. In this technique sheets are formed into the required shape by continues small step by step deformation. This same technique can also be applied to composite and polymer sheets. Generally, the sheet is formed using hemispherical tipped tool with a back die support. The standard tool is attached to a CNC machine, indents into the sheet by about 1 mm and follows a contour for the required part. The process is carried out at room temperature and requires a CNC machining centre, a spherical or hemispherical tip tool and a simple support to fix the sheet metal being formed. In recent years, this process saw a very rapid development. Aim of the current study is to investigate material formability, thickness distribution and hardness of Aluminium AA5052 sheet metal using two-point incremental sheet forming process. To emphasise that the base thickness and wall thickness mainly depends on the input parameters during forming process. So in this work the effects of process variables like tool path profile, spindle speed, wall inclination angle and step depth on the formability will be investigated by experiments. The results Obtained from this approach were used for detailed analysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.