Numerical simulation and experimental investigation to improve the dimensional accuracy in electric hot incremental forming of Ti–6Al–4V titanium sheet

Electric hot incremental forming is feasible and easy to control to form hard-to-form sheet metals, but the limited accuracy is a major deficiency. In order to find methods to improve precision, single-point electric hot incremental of Ti–6Al–4V titanium sheet was numerically simulated using MSC.Marc, and experimental investigations were also carried out in this paper. Through numerical analysis, distributing laws of temperature, thermal strain, stress, and equivalent strain were revealed, and impacts of cold contract and thermal strain on forming were also revealed. Analysis showed that electric hot incremental forming is a complex pyroplastic deformation, and there is a large internal stress in single-point electric hot incremental forming. The incremental sheet forming region can be divided into three parts: bending deformation at the beginning, shear forming at middle, and reverse bending at last; it is important to enhance the accuracy of the bending part and the reverse bending part, and adequate support must be provided in the beginning to reduce the bending part. In order to form a workpiece with small angle, two-point incremental forming was adopted at first because the gravity of clamp can reduce the reverse bending, then single-point electric hot incremental forming was adopted to enhance the accuracy and reduce internal stress of workpiece.