A Process/Machine coupling approach: Application to Robotized Incremental Sheet Forming

In this paper, a Process/Machine coupling approach applied to Robotized Incremental Sheet Forming (RISF) is presented. This approach consists in coupling a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the process with an elastic modelling of the robot structure to improve the geometrical accuracy of the formed part. The FEA, assuming a rigid machine, is used to evaluate the forces at the interface between the tool and the sheet during the forming stage. These forces are used as input data for the elastic model, to predict and correct the tool path deviations. In order to make the tool path correction more effective, the weight of three numerical and material parameters of the FEA on the predicted forces is investigated. Finally, the proposed method is validated by the comparison of the numerical and experimental tool paths and geometries obtained with or without correction of the tool path.