Incremental forming of sheet metal parts

Incremental forming is a new forming method, which enables the forming of sheet metal part without part specific tools. Because the forming is carried out without any part specific tools, the process is very interesting with regard to the manufacturing of prototype parts. The forming process, when carried out on a lathe, resembles the spinning process, but the process can also be carried out on a NC machining centre and it then becomes possible to form non-symmetric complex sheet metal parts. The process only requires a fixture in which the blank is mounted and a NC program to drive the forming tool. Two student projects have been carried out in this area. One project was carried out in collaboration with an industrial company, and the main purpose of the project was to investigate incremental forming of stainless steel. The purpose of the other project was to investigate the maximum forming speed when incrementally forming specimens made from aluminum. The experiments were conduction on a NC lathe. No upper limit for the forming speed could be identified. (Joachim Danckert, Department of Production, AAU)