Investigation into a new hybrid forming process: Incremental sheet forming combined with stretch forming

Asymmetric incremental sheet forming(AISF) is a process for the flexible production of sheet metal parts. In AISF, a part is obtained as the sum of localised plastic deformations induced by a simple forming tool that moves under CNC control. Three main problems exist in AISF: material thinning, geometric accuracy and the process duration. These limits restrict the range of applications of AISF. This paper focuses on a new hybrid process, the combination of AISF and stretch forming. First results are presented that show the positive impact of this hybrid process on the process limits. (C) 2009 CIRP.