Investigations on structural thinning and compensation stratagem in deformation machining stretching mode

Deformation machining (DM) is a combination of thin structure machining and single point incremental forming/bending. This process enables creation of monolithic structures with complex geometries employing conventional tooling. Structural thickness influences the strength and stiffness of the formed component. In this study, experimental and numerical (finite element) investigations on structural thinning in DM stretching mode have been performed. Structural thinning was found to be highly non uniform along the forming depth at varying forming angles. A compensation strategy in thin structure machining has been proposed to obtain uniform structural thickness in incremental forming.