NC INCREMENTAL SHEET METAL FORMING PROCESS AND VERTICAL WALL SQUARE BOX FORMING

The forming principle and deformation analysis of NC incremental sheet metalforming process as well as the process planning, experiment and key process parameters of verticalwall square box forming are presented. Because the deformation of sheet metal only occurs around thetool head and the deformed region is subjected to stretch deformation, the deformed region of sheetmetal thins, and surface area increases. Sheet metal forming stepwise is to lead to the whole sheetmetal deformation. The forming half-apex angle 9 and corner radius R are the main processparameters in NC incremental forming of vertical wall square box. According to sine law, a verticalwall square box can't be formed by NC incremental sheet metal forming process in a single process,rather, it must be formed in multi processes. Thus, the parallel line type tool path process methodis presented to form the vertical wall square box, and the experiment and analysis are made toverify it.

Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of incremental sheet forming process

In order to investigate the process of incremental sheet forming (ISF) through both experimental and numerical approaches, a three-dimensional elasto-plastic finite element model (FEM) was developed to simulate the process and the simulated results were compared with those of experiment. The results of numerical simulations, such as the strain history and distribution, the stress state and distribution, sheet thickness distribution, etc, were discussed in details, and the influences of process parameters on these results were also analyzed. The simulated results of the radial strain and the thickness distribution are in good agreement with experimental results. The simulations reveal that the deformation is localized around the tool and constantly remains close to a plane strain state. With decreasing depth step, increasing tool diameter and wall inclination angle, the axial stress reduces, leading to less thinning and more homogeneous plastic strain and thickness distribution. During ISF, the plastic strain increases stepwise under the action of the tool. Each increase in plastic strain is accompanied by hydrostatic pressure, which explains why obtainable deformation using ISF exceeds the forming limits of conventional sheet forming.

Incremental forming of free surface with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet at warm temperatures

The formabilityof AZ31 sheet begins to increase drastically at 150℃.The incremental forming technique was thus applied to AZ31 sheet at 150℃to utilize the formability to its fullest capacity at the lowest possible temperature for forming applications.A surface scanning technique was used followed by the tool path generation to incrementally form an egg surface.After thorough examination of various tool paths,the surface was most successfully produced by forming an intermediate shape followed by a series of tool paths.Flexible scale stickers were devised to improve the accuracy in the measurement of grid deformation.

DEFORMATION ANALYSIS OF SHEET METAL SINGLE-POINT INCREMENTAL FORMING BY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD SIMULATION

Single-point incremental forming （SPIF） is an innovational sheet metal forming method without dedicated dies, which belongs to rapid prototyping technology. In generalizing the SPIF of sheet metal, the deformation analysis on forming process becomes an important and useful method for the planning of shell products, the choice of material, the design of the forming process and the planning of the forming tool. Using solid brick elements, the finite element method（FEM） model of truncated pyramid was established. Based on the theory of anisotropy and assumed strain formulation, the SPIF processes with different parameters were simulated. The resulted comparison between the simulations and the experiments shows that the FEM model is feasible and effective. Then, according to the simulated forming process, the deformation pattern of SPIF can be summarized as the combination of plane-stretching deformation and bending deformation. And the study about the process parameters＇ impact on deformation shows that the process parameter of interlayer spacing is a dominant factor on the deformation. Decreasing interlayer spacing, the strain of one step decreases and the formability of blank will be improved. With bigger interlayer spacing, the plastic deformation zone increases and the forming force will be bigger.

Method of closed loop springback compensation for incremental sheet forming process

The closed loop control model was built up for compensating the springback and enhancing the work piece precision.A coupled closed loop algorithm and a finite element method were developed to simulate and correct the springback of incremental sheet forming.A three-dimensional finite element model was established for simulation of springback in incremental sheet forming process.The closed loop algorithm of trajectory profile for the incremental sheet forming based on the wavelet transform combined with fast Fourier transform was constructed.The profile of processing tool path of shallow dishing with spherical surface was designed on the basis of the profile correction algorithm.The result shows that the algorithm can predict an ideal profile of processing track,and the springback error of incremental sheet forming is eliminated effectively.It has good convergence efficiency,and can improve the workpiece dimensional accuracy greatly.

Studying Formability Limits By Combining Conventional and Incremental Sheet Forming Process

In this work it is assessed the potential of combining conventional and incremental sheet forming processes in a same sheet of metal.This so-called hybrid forming approach is performed through the manufacture of a pre-forming by conventional forming,followed by incremental sheet forming.The main objective is analyzing strain evolution.The pre-forming induced in the conventional forming stage will determine the strain paths,directly influencing the strains produced by the incremental process.To conduct the study,in the conventional processes,strains were imposed in three different ways with distinct true strains.At the incremental stage,the pyramid strategy was adopted with different wall slopes.From the experiments,the true strains and the final geometries were analyzed.Numerical simulation was also employed for the sake of comparison and correlation with the measured data.It could be observed that single-stretch pre-strain was directly proportional to the maximum incremental strains achieved,whereas samples subjected to biaxial pre-strain influenced the formability according to the degree of pre-strain applied.Pre-strain driven by the prior deep-drawing operation did not result,in this particular geometry,in increased formability.

Improving Local Temperature Rise in Rotational Incremental Sheet Forming Process by Modifying Forming Parameters Using Response Surface Method

In rotational incremental sheet forming( RISF) process,the friction heating of rotational tool could lead to local temperature rise of the sheet and cause the improvement of sheet's formability.Lightweight metal,such as magnesium alloy,could be deformed by RISF without additional heating. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of forming parameters,namely,tool rotational speed,feed-rate,step size and wall angle,on the local temperature rise. Using response surface methodology and central composite design( CCD) experimental design,the significance,sequence of parameters and regression models would be analyzed with AZ31 B as the experimental material,and 3D response surface plots would be shown. Combined with actual processing conditions,the measures to improve the local temperature rise by modifying each parameter would be discussed in the end. The results showed that hierarchy of the parameters with respect to the significance of their effects on the local temperature at the side wall was: feed-rate,step size,and rotational speed,while at the bottom it was: feed-rate,step size,wall angle, and rotational speed, and no significant interaction appeared. It was found that the most significant parameter was not rotational speed,but feed-rate,followed by step size,for both test positions. In addition, the local temperature would increase by elevating step size,wall angle,rotating rate,and bringing down of feed-rate.

A novel micro-rolling&incremental sheet forming hybrid process:Deformation behavior and microstructure evolution

Thin-walled metal parts with functional micro-featured surface have broad application prospects in the fields of resistance reduction,noise reduction,etc.In this study,a novel micro-rolling&incremental sheet forming hybrid process(μR-ISF)is proposed to fabricate thin-walled metal parts with microgroove arrays.An analytical model which relates the rolling force and microgroove depth in the micro-rolling stage was first established.Then,the formation mechanism of microgroove morphology during both micro-rolling stage and macro-shape forming stage are investigated.After the micro-grooved sheet being incrementally formed,a significant reduction(between 21%to nearly 60%)is occurred in the depth of both transverse and longitudinal grooves compared to the flat sheet.Meanwhile,the width of transverse grooves decreases slightly by about 10%on average,while the width of longitudinal microgrooves increases significantly by more than 30%on average.After micro-rolling,85°{102}tensile twins appear on the micro-grooved sheet and the percentage of 65°{112}compressive twins increases.After incremental forming,the percentage of low-angle grain boundaries and the density of geometrically necessary dislocations in the formed part increase significantly,and the grain size distribution becomes more uniform.The present work provides a new strategy for the fabrication of 3D metal thin-walled components with surface micro-features.

Improving the forming performance of incrementally formed sheet parts with customized heat treatment strategies

Although incremental sheet forming(ISF)is an efficient way to manufacture customized parts,the forming performance and geometric accuracy of formed parts need to be improved to meet industrial application.One feasible solution for these problems is to adopt proper heat treatment strategies for the sheet material both before and during the forming process.In this paper,the effects of heat treatment before forming and heat-assisted forming on the formability and performance of formed parts were experimentally investigated.First,TA1 sheets were heat-treated at different temperatures before forming,and then the sheets were incrementally formed into the target shape with variable angles at different temperatures.After heat treatment,the strength of sheets was decreased due to the occurrence of recrystallization and the growth of grains.Meanwhile,the surface quality of formed parts was also improved with pre-heat treatment before forming.During the heat-assisted forming process,the sheet was softened and the deformation resistance was reduced with the increase of temperature.Therefore,the axial forming force was decreased obviously and the formability of the sheet was increased obviously.Furthermore,by adopting both heat treatment and heat-assisted forming,it was found that the forming force could be further reduced and the formability of the sheet and surface quality could be further improved.As for geometric accuracy,heat treatment has a good effect on improving it,while heat-assisted forming has adverse effect.These findings provide an effective heat treatment strategy for improving the geometric accuracy and surface quality of the incrementally formed parts with lower forming force.

A toolpath strategy for improving geometric accuracy in double-sided incremental sheet forming

The double-sided incremental forming(DSIF)improved the process flexibility compared to other incremental sheet forming(ISF)processes.Despite the flexible nature,it faces the challenge of low geometric precision like ISF variants.In this work,two strategies are used to overcome this.First,a novel method is employed to determine the optimal support tool location for improving geometric precision.In this method,the toolpath oriented the tools to each other systematically in the circumferential direction.Besides,it squeezed the sheet by the same amount at the point of interest.The impacts of various support tool positions in the circumferential direction are evaluated for geometric precision.The results demonstrate that the support tool should support the master tool within 10°to its local normal in the circumferential direction to improve the geometric accuracy.Second,a two-stage process reduced the geometric error of the part by incrementally accommodating the springback error by artificially increasing the step size for the second stage.With the optimal support tool position and two-stage DSIF,the geometric precision of the part has improved significantly.The proposed method is compared to the best DSIF toolpath strategies for geometric accuracy,surface roughness,forming time,and sheet thickness fluctuations using grey relational analysis(GRA).It outperforms the other toolpath strategies including single-stage DSIF,accumulative double-sided incremental forming(ADSIF),and two-stage mixed double sided incre-mental forming(MDSIF).Our approach can improve geometric precision in complex parts by successfully employing the support tool and managing the springback incrementally.

Experimental and numerical investigation on surface quality for two-point incremental sheet forming with interpolator

The unsatisfied surface quality seriously impedes the wide application of incremental sheet forming(ISF)in industrial field.As a novel approach,the interpolator method is a promising strategy to enhance the surface quality in ISF.However,the mechanism for the improvement of surface quality and the influence of interpolator properties on surface roughness are not well understood.In this paper,the influences of process variables(i.e.tool diameter,step size and thickness of interpolators)on the forming process(e.g.surface roughness,forming force and geometric error)are investigated through a systematic experimental approach of central composite design(CCD)in two-point incremental sheet forming(TPIF).It is obtained that the increase in thickness of interpolators decreases the surface roughness in direction vertical to the tool path while increases the surface roughness in direction horizontal to the tool path.Nevertheless,the combined influence between thickness of interpolators and process parameters(tool diameter and step size)is limited.Meanwhile,the placement of interpolator has little influence on the effective forming force of blank.In addition,the geometric error enlarges with the increase of step size and thickness of interpolator while decreases firstly and then increase with an increase in tool diameter.Finally,the influencing mechanism of the interpolator method on surface quality can be attributed to the decrease of thecontact pressure due to the increase of contact area with the unchanged contact force.Meanwhile,the interpolator method eliminates the sliding friction on the surface of blank due to the stable relative position between the blank and the interpolator.

The influence of ultrasonic vibration on parts properties during incremental sheet forming

The integration of ultrasonic vibration into sheet forming process can significantly reduce the forming force and bring benefits including the enhancement of surface quality,the enhancement of formability and the reduction of spring-back.However,the influencing mechanisms of the high-frequency vibration on parts properties during the incremental sheet forming(ISF)process are not well known,preventing a more efficient forming system.This paper comprehensively investigates the effects of different process parameters(vibration amplitude,step-down size,rotation speed and forming angle)on the micro-hardness,minimum thickness,forming limit and residual stress of the formed parts.First,a series of truncated pyramids were formed with an experimental platform designed for the ultrasonic-assisted incremental sheet forming.Then,microhardness tests,minimum thickness measurements and residual stress tests were performed for the formed parts.The results showed that the surface micro-hardness of the formed part was reduced since the vibration stress induced by the ultrasonic vibration within the material which eliminated the original internal stress.The superimposed University,Beijing 100083,People’s Republic of China ultrasonic vibration can effectively uniform the residual stress and thickness distribution,arid improve the forming limit in the case of the small deformation rate.In addition,through the tensile fracture analysis of the formed part,it is shown that the elongation of material is improved and the elastic modulus and hardening index are decreased.The findings of the present work lay the foundation for a better integration of the ultrasonic vibration system into the incremental sheet forming process.

Formation mechanism and modeling of surface waviness in incremental sheet forming

mproving and controlling surface quality has always been a challenge for incremental sheet forming (ISF), whereas the generation mechanism of waviness surface is still unknown, which impedes the widely application of ISF in the industrial field. In this paper, the formation mechanism and the prediction of waviness are both investigated through experiments, numerical simulation, and theoretical analysis. Based on a verified finite element model, the waviness topography is predicted numerically for the first time, and its generation is attributed to the residual bending deformation through deformation history analysis. For more efficient engineering application, a theoretical model for waviness height is proposed based on the generation mechanism, using a modified strain function considering deformation modes. This work is favorable for the perfection of formation mechanism and control of surface quality in ISF.

基于双侧辅板约束的钛合金U形件室温下柔性自由渐进成形

为了实现低塑性钛合金板料在室温下的成形,提出了基于方向交替的扩张型加工轨迹,用于基于双侧辅板(DC05或SAPH440)约束的钛合金柔性自由渐进成形(FFISF)。利用ABAQUS对TC4钛合金U形件的室温FFISF过程进行了有限元分析,为工艺参数的选择提供指导。结果表明,所提出的加工轨迹可以有效提高上辅板的成形能力,避免了传统加工轨迹导致的上辅板中心隆起缺陷和侧壁褶皱缺陷,使其在加工过程中全程辅助TC4钛合金目标板材产生相应的塑性变形。将新型加工轨迹与合理的工艺参数应用于FFISF,可以在室温下成形出TC4钛合金直壁角U形件,成形件具有良好的几何精度、表面质量和均匀的厚度分布。分析表明,零件实际壁角大于加工轨迹壁角,原因在于成形过程中零件侧壁向中心夹紧并且在上、下辅板之间出现空腔。

Q345B帆形板渐进弯曲加载路径研究

目的提高渐进弯曲成形中厚高强钢板帆形件的精度,基于最小能量法提出不同加载路径并进行实验对比,以获取满足精度需求的加载路径。方法选用Q345B为实验材料,进行不同加载路径的单层和多层渐进弯曲成形实验,使用视觉检测系统获取样本形状数据。分析不同加载路径的缺陷影响,并在沿x轴截面、沿y轴截面和沿x=y截面上对不同加载路径的成形形状和成形误差进行对比分析。进一步引入辅助支撑与辅助加热装置进行实验,对在有无辅助支撑和有无辅助加热条件下的结果进行分析。结果在“由里到外”的加载路径下,单层与多层成形的平均误差分别为8.5 mm与6.5 mm;在“由外到里”的加载路径下,单层与多层成形的平均误差分别为3.2 mm与2.7 mm。在“由外到里”加载路径多层成形的基础上引入辅助支撑后平均误差降为1.16 mm。在增加辅助支撑的基础上再增加辅助加热(将板材加热到300℃),板材平均误差降为0.8 mm。结论“由外到里”加载路径为更好的加载路径。同时增加辅助支撑与辅助加热可进一步改善成形缺陷、提高成形精度。

数控双面渐进成形实验平台设计及教学实践

渐进成形是一种新型板材成形技术,适用于小批量、个性化的薄壁板材快速柔性成形制造。研制了一个新型双面渐进成形实验平台,通过数控编程控制对称分布在板材两侧的成形工具头,可实现三维板材件的柔性成形制造。该实验平台每侧的工具头包含两组偏转控制机构,可实现多角度偏转控制。基于该实验平台开设新的工科实验课程,通过数字化编程实现定制化零件的柔性成形制造,可用于新工科课程实践教学,有利于培养学生的创新思维。

基于遗传神经网络的数字化渐进成形回弹预测

针对传统BP神经网络具有易陷入局部极小等缺陷,采用遗传算法(GA)对BP神经网络(初始权值、阈值)进行了优化,将人工智能技术和激光扫描测量技术有机结合,建立了金属板材数字化渐进成形回弹预测的遗传神经网络模型,对计算结果与BP神经网络预测结果进行比较,表明遗传神经网络预测值与实测值之间具有很高的相关性和精确度,该模型可用于预测渐进成形工艺参数与回弹量之间的映射关系,为金属板材数字化渐进成形回弹量的预测开辟了一条新的途径.

金属板材数字化渐进成形技术研究现状

金属板材数字化渐进成形技术是国际上刚刚兴起的一种柔性成形技术。介绍了数字化渐进成形的原理、特点及其工艺过程,综合分析了近年来数字化渐进成形技术的研究成果,重点对渐进成形的工艺规划及成形轨迹的优化、对板材成形性能的影响、成形过程的数值模拟、成形精度等方面进行了较系统的归纳和总结,列举了大量的国内外工艺应用及设备情况,探讨了数字化渐进成形技术的发展趋势和有待进一步研究的若干课题。

金属板材数控单点渐进成形加工轨迹优化研究

提出一种对金属板材数控单点渐进成形的加工轨迹优化及成形压头压入点沿工件轮廓均布处理的方法。解决了工件局部的凹陷与破裂问题,提高了板料数控渐进成形的质量。

汽车大型覆盖件的数字化成形技术

本文介绍金属板料数字化成形的方法 ,这是一种用CAD模型直接驱动 ,实现设计与制造一体化的柔性快速成形方法。其采用快速原型制造技术的“分层制造”思想 ,将复杂的三维形状分解成一系列二维层上的数据。并根据工件的几何形状信息 ,用三轴数控设备控制一个成形工具头作三维曲线运动 ,逐层对板料进行塑性加工 。