Rapid Prototyping for Sheet Metal Products

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to evaluate and predict forming limit and then to improve and develop the incremental sheet metal forming (ISMF) processes for complex surface products of sheet metal. The theoretical study was first overviewed and synthesized in order to recognize the effect of geometry, technology parameters, and processing conditions on ISMF process. Finite element method (FEM) simulation study was then used to compare the accuracy of constitutive material models and fracture criteria and propose new equations in order to improve the prediction of FEM simulation for incremental sheet metal forming process. To develop a new technique for improving the formability of sheet metal using ISMF, FEM was also adopted to reduce the cost and time of research. The basic experimental studies were performed to determine the input data for FEM simulation such as tensile data, fracture parameters, and so on. To investigate and compare the simulation results, the incremental sheet metal forming processes for complex shapes were also conducted.