Influence of Wall Angle, Feed Rate, and Sheet Thickness on Forming Force in SPIF

Abstract

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) technique is a choice of green manufacturing that can produce complicated shapes from sheet materials with reduced power and energy using simple tools. This technique further exempts use of expensive forming dies and punches due which makes it cost effective for rapid prototyping and batch-type manufacturing. The prediction and measurement of forming forces during SPIF process determine the size of forming machinery and additional hardware along with preventing the failures of facilities. In this work, maximal axial forming forces have been investigated under the effects of interactions of significant input variables like sheet thickness, wall angle, and feed rate. The minimal axial peak force (836 N) required to produce conical frustums was observed during trial 1 when a wall angle of 60 was employed with minimum sheet thickness (0.8 mm, in this case). On the other hand, the maximal axial peak force (1577 N) required to produce conical frustums was observed during trial 12 when a wall angle of 72 was employed with greater sheet thickness (1.6 mm, in this case) which can be the limiting factor of forming tool and machinery and that should obviously be avoided.