Multi-step incremental forming using local feature based toolpaths

Single Point Incremental Forming owes its flexibility to lack of dedicated tooling needed to create a variety of different geometries. This is possible because of its computer controlled nature: the toolpath that is executed will determine the shape of the produced part. By altering the toolpath in a smart way, the process can be optimized towards different criteria: speed, accuracy, surface quality. This paper describes a new methodology to automatically create toolpaths based on feature geometry. It can be used to add local features to a preformed shape, or to improve the surface quality of complex freeform parts. The paper describes the slicing algorithm and toolpath generation. The robustness of the procedure is demonstrated and a first test case shows an increase in surface quality without compromising on accuracy. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of SHEMET 2019.