Application of artificial cognitive system to incremental sheet forming machine tools for part precision improvement

• ISF is a flexible, time and cost saving manufacturing process.
• ISF seems to be the most effective technology for small-batch and customized mass productions.
• A correction algorithm is presented for solving the critical aspect related to the part precision.
• It allows to obtain precise parts within a maximum of few iterations.
• It is able to improve the machine tool capability and to increase the machine intelligence.

In incremental sheet forming a hemispherical tool moved by a CNC machine deforms a sheet moving along a predefined path. The process is highly flexible and useful for making prototypes or small series, being characterized by low development times and costs. The part feasibility is strongly influenced by the adopted toolpath and, in particular, toolpath corrections are requested to obtain sound parts in terms of final geometry (part dimension and geometry are affected by springback and punch movement) and sheet rupture. In this paper, an iterative algorithm, based on an artificial cognitive system, is presented and tested on a CNC milling machine when producing actual parts showing how it is possible to obtain sound components by properly varying the original geometry based on of the measurements of the produced part.