Experimental Investigation and Finite Element Modeling on Incremental Forming Process of Aluminum Sheet Alloys

Incremental sheet metal forming process is a new procedure that forms three-dimensional parts of metal in a thin sheet. In particular, single point incremental forming of sheet metal is considered as a process that forms products without using complex dies and specific forming tool. Through this process, a cylindrical rotating punch with hemispherical end shape follows a predefined continuous or discontinuous trajectory to deform the sheet plastically. This fabrication method is known for its flexibility and the adaptation to complex geometrical shapes [6]. In the present work, the single point incremental forming process (SPIF) has been investigated experimentally and numerically using 3D finite element analysis (FEA). Regarding concerns of the material, the sheets were produced from aluminum alloy. This study focuses on using numerical simulations as a tool to predict and control some mechanical and geometrical responses. In order to understand the effect choice of model constitutive laws, we intend to compare between two relationships of stress-strain hardening behavior, implemented on ABAQUS software, with the experimental results. Based on the obtained findings, a comparison study was presented in this paper between experimental and numerical results. Different outputs responses were extracted such as global geometry (springback error, shape and final achieved section profiles) and thickness distribution. Therefore, the results obtained from the simulation were validated experimentally and good correlations are found, also the process strategies show good agreement with the experiments. Simultaneously, we conclude the most efficient hardening behavior of the material that insures the obtaining of results that are as close as possible to the experimental ones.