Design and fabrication of Single Point incremental sheet forming machine

Incremental sheet forming ISF is a sheet metal forming technique with great potential of use in prototyping and custom manufacturing. ISF has some geometric limitation mainly due to forming mechanics and formability limits of material. Incremental sheet forming is the process of for

Project Title

Design and fabrication of Single Point incremental sheet forming machine

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

Incremental sheet forming ISF is a sheet metal forming technique with great potential of use in prototyping and custom manufacturing. ISF has some geometric limitation mainly due to forming mechanics and formability limits of material. Incremental sheet forming is the process of forming sheet in to desire shape by computer-controlled the tool which moves in specific parameters for forming. Sheet is supported using clampers along its edges, and the material is shaped by localized deformation and no stretch nor pure shear happen. The mechanics of deformation in SPIF include plane stretching in contact to tool and an association of stretching and bending on surrounding area this phenomenon refers to thinning on the formed walls, the forming parameters, such as the tool diameter (t) and the forming step (z) or scallop height (h), also affect the thinning phenomena. The forming parameters, as well as the sheet material and initial thickness, affect the formability limits and lead to a maximum forming angle

Hardware: To perform ISF, computer numerical control (CNC) machines are absolutely necessary to control the tool motion. Simultaneously, the forming operation must deal with significant forces. Thus, conscientious considerations must be taken into account for both the machine and the forming tool selection. The 3 axis CNC machine is designed and fabricated the design of our machine The CAD design shows the 3 axis of machine linear rails and ball screws are used for the X Y and Z axis movement of tool 4040 Extrusions are used for the frame build. An important aspect of an ISF machine is the frame used for both supporting and clamping the blank. The most common approach is the use of a metal frame bolted all around the blank or the use of a toggle clamps based system, as shown in figure. In most machines used for ISF operation, the forming tool is mounted on a standard tool holder or a custom design tool holder. We are using tool holder for our project instead of spindle.for most SPIF applications, the forming tool or forming punch is a rod with a spherical end, mostly ball tip punches with typical diameters from 5 to 20 mm. Flat-ended tools with small corner radius can also be used for forming operations. Principal parameters of a SPIF tool are its diameter and length. Furthermore, several tool shapes exist, particularly straight tools, tapered tools, dapper punches and tipped tools.One of the first steps in the part design is the material selection, as well as the definition of the initial thickness. The selection of material and thickness should take into account the required mechanical behavior for the formed part as well as the consequent restrictions regarding the geometric features limitations. Although ISF processes are better suited for high formability materials, SPIF works with both metals and plastics sheet materials.

Project Objectives

• Our objective is to design and manufacture a single point incremental sheet forming machine.
• Designing of electronic circuit and designing of tool.
• Create a system that safely allows electric current to be applied through the tool during SPIF.
• The objective of this work is to perform experiments by using fix tool.  
• Generating G-Codes of design from cad design.
• In this Project 3 different grade of Aluminium alloys will used namely AA 2024, AA 6061 and AA 7475 series alloys with plate thickness ranging from 0.8 mm to 3.18 mm.
• The Main focus of this study was to organize a set of experiments to determine the forming limits and the fracture points and the maximum forming angles for the above-mentioned materials in relation with three common SPIF forming parameters: step size, angle, and feed rate and also to measure and analyse strain paths along the forming limits and to determine the fracture strain for the above-mentioned materials.
• The results obtained should be able to predict and categorize the extent of the necking and thickness reduction occurring before fracture along with the wall angle at which fracture initiated.
• Another objective of this study is to determine the shape accuracy of the manufactured parts in terms of depth achieved, thickness reduction and wall angles achieved in relation to the CAD file.
• Tests will conduct on all the three grades of aluminium with different thicknesses while keeping the experimental parameters constant which included step depth, feed rates and the tool radii in order to study the amount of deviation that different materials show while comparing with the cad file.

Project Implementation Method

Incremental sheet forming is the process of forming sheet in to desire shape by computer-controlled the tool which moves in specific parameters for forming. Sheet is supported using clampers along its edges, and the material is shaped by localized deformation and no stretch nor pure shear happen. The mechanics of deformation in SPIF include plane stretching in contact to tool and an association of stretching and bending on surrounding area this phenomenon refers to thinning on the formed walls, the forming parameters, such as the tool diameter (t) and the forming step (z) or scallop height (h), also affect the thinning phenomena. The forming parameters, as well as the sheet material and initial thickness, affect the formability limits and lead to a maximum forming angle Hardware: To perform ISF, computer numerical control (CNC) machines are absolutely necessary to control the tool motion. Simultaneously, the forming operation must deal with significant forces. Thus, conscientious considerations must be taken into account for both the machine and the forming tool selection. The CAD design shows the 3 axis of machine linear rails and ball screws are used for the X Y and Z axis movement of tool 4040 Extrusions are used for the frame build. An important aspect of an ISF machine is the frame used for both supporting and clamping the blank. The most common approach is the use of a metal frame bolted all around the blank or the use of a toggle clamps based system, as shown in figure. In most machines used for ISF operation, the forming tool is mounted on a standard tool holder or a custom design tool holder. We are using tool holder for our project instead of spindle ISF tools: for most SPIF applications, the forming tool or forming punch is a rod with a spherical end, mostly ball tip punches with typical diameters from 5 to 20 mm. Flat-ended tools with small corner radius can also be used for forming operations. Principal parameters of a SPIF tool are its diameter and length. Furthermore, several tool shapes exist, particularly straight tools, tapered tools, dapper punches and tipped tools

Benefits of the Project

• The advantage of ISF over conventional sheet forming is that it is a die-less process if SPIF is used. The elimination of die reduces the tooling cost, and it increases turnaround time for low production-volume parts. Even if the TPIF process is used, the tooling cost can be low, since the die may be made of low-cost material, such as wood. However, by nature, it is a slow process, and there can also be a loss of dimensional accuracy, particularly for complex parts. In general, ISF is a suitable and economical process for building prototypes and low volume production of automotive parts
• Incremental forming (IF) is a recent manufacturing process having a wide range of applications in the following areas.
  • Biomedical Implant
  • Automobile
  • Aerospace
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Defense

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

• CAD model of the Incremental sheet forming machine is done on solid works according to the research and market survey parameters our CAD model is design according to the 3 axis CNC milling machine where X and Z moves the tool and Y axis movement is associated with bed the forming sheet is mounted on bed with the help of clampers which holds the sheet the tool movement is computer-controlled, therefore 3 stepper motors are used to control the X Y and Z movement which is signaled through the control board FYSETC S6 for the working of the machine first we have to design a CAD model with negative contour path and we generate a G code for the design that is input in our control board which controls the whole process. our testing is done on aluminum sheet alloy of 0.8 to 3mm thickness 
• some manufacturing parts are ball screw for movement in x and y axis, extrusion for frame and bed, high speed steal tool is used which is manufactured according to parameter in literature review  

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Manufacturing

Other Industries

Medical , Transportation , Security

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

3D/4D Printing

Sustainable Development Goals

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

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