Rapid prototyping in sheet metal forming process: investigations on sacrificial layer effect during single point incremental forming process

Incremental sheet forming is an emerging technology due its flexibility and versatility which has a promising future in rapid prototyping and batch manufacturing industry. Also, incremental sheet forming process gaining scientific community attention due to its die less forming which eliminates complex tooling and expensive customised dies. Prototyping, automobile, aerospace and medical industries get most benefit of this technology. Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is an emerging forming process is the one of the incremental sheet forming process, in which a sheet metal is clamped on a fixture and a hemispherical head tool moved towards sheet metal in incremental steps and the tool movement is controlled by a CNC program. In the present research, researchers introduced a sacrificial layer as a dummy sheet (Al 1050) over target sheet metal to investigate its effect on surface roughness and formability of target sheet metal (Al 1050). The Al 1050 is known for its excellent corrosion resistance, high ductility and highly reflective finish. Dummy sheet metal thickness, incremental step depth, tool diameter were considered as input process parameters and surface roughness and formability of target material were considered as output characteristics. An optimal surface roughness of 0.318 um was achieved at 0.2 mm step depth, 0.32 mm dummy sheet thickness and 12 mm tool diameter. And maximum formability was achieved with 9 mm tool diameter, 0.56 mm dummy sheet thickness and 1 mm step depth conditions.