الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Important customized and small batch products such as foot supports make the researchers always think about new and inexpensive manufacturing methods. Using metal forming with the aid of computerized numerical control (CNC) helped to develop a new technique called the incremental sheet forming (ISF) process. Manufacturing of foot supports is usually conducted by incremental sheet metal forming (ISF) processes. The Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) incremental sheet forming (ISF) process consists of a rotating tool used to deform metal or polymer sheets into the required final product. This work studies the ISF process of foot supports in terms of forming limit, geometrical accuracy, surface roughness, required forming force, and consumed energy. The effects of process parameters such as tool diameter, step size, and feedrate have been mainly investigated. Finite element simulation models of foot support manufacturing by conventional deep drawing (DD), ISF, and deep drawing using conical dies (CDD) have been developed to predict the deformation characteristics and compare the three techniques. Experimental and numerical results revealed that step size is the most significant parameter affecting the forming depth of foot support, whereas tool diameter is the most significant parameter impacting surface roughness and thickness reduction. In the ISF process, the variation of foot depth relative to nominal depth along the profile of the product does not exceed 8% for both numerical and experimental. Maximum thinning of 32.7% during the ISF process occurred at the lower point of the wall of the foot support product; however, it occurred at the upper point of the wall during the DD and CDD processes with values of 17% and 9%, respectively. Furthermore, for the three techniques, the tool forming force has gradually increased with the forming depth reaching a peak value, then drops drastically after the onset of sheet cracking. Also, the equivalent plastic strain increased gradually and reached its maximum value at a depth of 25 mm. For the same final foot depth, energy consumption in DD is 2.5 times lower than that of the ISF process, whereas in CDD it is 10 times lower than that of the ISF process. |