Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of incremental sheet forming with an elastic support

Incremental sheet forming (ISF), a flexible forming process of rapid prototyping, enables complex shapes to be produced without dedicated dies and suits for small-batch production with short lead time. Support is an important component of incremental forming, which is critical to ensure the geometry precision of parts. However, rigid support is usually adopted which costs much and goes against springback compensation. Thus, in this study, the influence of elastic supports on springback and formability of incremental forming was explored based on numerical simulation and experimental validation. Three kinds of materials (polyurethane material, rubber material, and wood material) were selected to obtain the supports of incremental forming. It was found if a same tool path is employed the more elasticity the support has the larger the shape error is. Additionally, a springback compensation method with a rubber support based on the tool path revision was proposed to improve the geometrical accuracy. This strategy makes uses of the significant elastic deformation of the rubber support, and needs no support repair or change especially compared with a multistage process.