A Hybrid Forming System: Electrical-Assisted Double Side Incremental Forming (EADSIF) Process for Enhanced Formability and Geometrical Flexibility (open access)

A Hybrid Forming System: Electrical-Assisted Double Side Incremental Forming (EADSIF) Process for Enhanced Formability and Geometrical Flexibility

The objectives of this project are to establish the scientific bases, engineering technologies and energy/emission impact of a novel dieless forming process, Double side Incremental Forming (DSIF), and to explore the effectiveness of its hybrid variation, Electrical-Assisted Double Side Incremental Forming (EADSIF), on increasing the formability of metallic sheets. The scope of this project includes: (1) the analysis of environmental performance of the proposed new process as compared to conventional sheet metal forming processes; (2) the experimental investigation of the process capabilities of DSIF and EADSIF via the self-designed and newly established lab-scale EADSIF equipment; (3) the development of the essential software in executing the new proposed process, i.e., the toolpath generation algorithms; and finally (4) the exploration of the electricity effect on material deformation. The major accomplishments, findings and conclusions obtained through this one and a half years exploratory project are: (1) The first industrial medium-size-scale DSIF machine using two hexapods, capable of handling a sheet area up to 675 mm x 675 mm, was successfully completed at Ford. (2) The lab-scale of the DSIF machine was designed, fabricated and assembled to form a workpiece up to 250 mm x 250 mm. (3) Parts with arbitrary freeform double-curvatures using …
Date: April 28, 2012
Creator: Cao, Jian; Xia, Z. Cedric; Gutowski, Timothy G. & Roth, John
System: The UNT Digital Library