Approach for the Development of Forming Tools for Radial Rotation Profile-Forming

The incremental forming process Radial Rotation Profile-Forming (RRPF) has been developed to enable the production of profiled hollow parts with low sheet thinning and high geometrical accuracy. As a result of low thinning, a smaller initial sheet thickness can be used, while material and weight can be saved.The two principal forming steps are the production of the preform by Rotational Swing-Folding (RSB) and the subsequent radial profile forming of the hollow part in one clamping position. The special feature are the purposed wrinkles in the first process step, which formed in the indentation of the profiled mandrel. This is an advantage, because of the additional thickening. Due to the radial profiled forming in the second process step, the axial profile can be formed with less thinning.The focus of the article is on the development of the forming tools for the second process step of RRPF. Based on the general law of gearing, the forming tools for the production of a component are developed. First, a forming simulation of an example component validates the approach. For this purpose, some simplifications have been made in order to consider the profile forming process separately. Afterwards, the experimental results of the incremental sheet metal forming process for the production of the profiled hollow parts are presented.