Finite element analysis of heat assisted incremental sheet forming process

ABSTRACT

Incremental sheet forming is a flexible method to produce 3D sculptured sheet metal parts without expensive and dedicated tools. The present work studies the behaviour of sheets with low ductility undergoing forming under warm conditions. The material selected is Ti6Al4 V titanium alloy which is very hard to deform at room temperature. The temperature of around 500 - 700°C, i.e. below the recrystallisation temperature, is provided to the sheet. In this numerical simulation, a predefined temperature of 500°C is provided initially to the sheet in the predefined field using ABAQUS® software to carry out the test runs. With the increase in temperature, the ductility of the material increases, and the sheet becomes easy to form. The analysis is carried out at a temperature range of 500 - 700°C with different process parameters, viz. step depth, wall angle, and constant tool diameter. Von-Mises stresses, forming depth, and thickness distribution at various input process parameters were studied in the present work. The results obtained show that the fracture depth and thickness distribution increase with a decrease in the mesh size and step depth, whereas they decrease with the decrease in the temperature and increase in the wall angle.

KEYWORDS:

• Incremental forming
• finite element analysis
• Ti6al4v
• high-temperature forming

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.