Experimental study on residual formability of single point incrementally formed part

A substantial increase in demand on the sheet metal part usage in aerospace and automotive industries is due to the increase in the sale of these products to ease the transportation. However, due to the increase in fuel prices and further environmental regulation had left no choice but to manufacture more fuel efficient and inexpensive vehicles. These heavy demands force researchers to think outside the box. Many innovative research projects came to replace the conventional sheet metal forming of which single point incremental forming is one of them. SPIF is the emerging die-less sheet metal forming process in which the single point tool incrementally forces any single point of sheet metal at any processing time to undergo plastic deformation. It has several advantages over the conventional process like high process flexibility, elimination of die, complex shape and better formability. Previous literature provides enormous research on formability of metal during this process, process with various metals and hybrid metals, the influence of various process parameter, but residual formability after this process is untouched. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the residual formability of the formed parts using single point incremental forming and then restrike with a conventional tool. The common process parameters of single point incremental forming were varied, and residual formability was studied through the conventional process. The strain and thickness distribution were measured and analyzed. In addition, the forming limit of the part was plotted and compared.