An Optimization and Formability Assessment Tool for Incremental Sheet Forming

Abstract Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) is a novel die-less forming process, which is suitable for small batch production. It has high forming flexibility and is able to form highly complex free form part geometry. However, the parts formed using the ISF process may have geometrical inaccuracies, pillow effect and part failure when the forming wall angle exceeds the limit. Hence, it is important to know the formability of a part ahead in order to plan the ISF process correctly. One method to know the formability is by finding the optimum forming orientation. In the current state of art, some studies were carried out to obtain the optimum forming orientation by using Stereolithography model (STL) on symmetrical parts. However, it is noticed that there is lack of investigations of the optimum forming orientation on non-symmetrical part. Hence, in this work, a new approach in finding the optimum forming orientation of non-symmetrical part is proposed by considering the formability of the part along two axes. To implement this new approach, a genetic-algorithm-like method is proposed and explained. The proposed algorithm is integrated with visual color map. The optimized forming orientation, local wall angle, and percentage reduction of sheet thickness are presented in the color map format to further assist the end user. Several experiments were conducted to test the proposed algorithm. From the experimental investigations, it can be concluded that the proposed algorithm helps the user to identify potential failure areas and, thus, reduce the failures by reorienting the part forming direction.