Experimental and numerical investigation on incremental sheet forming with flexible die-support from metallic foam

Poor geometric accuracy of workpieces plagues single-point incremental forming (SPIF) due to lack of support and unwanted plastic deformation. In this work, metallic foam blocks are used as flexible die-support in duplex (or two-point) incremental forming (DPIF), and the geometric accuracy of workpieces is significantly improved by comparing to single point incremental forming as well as other improved strategies as demonstrated through both finite element simulation and experiments. Since the metallic foam is plastically deformable and easy to machine (or cut) and has a certain strength, DPIF with flexible die-support (DPIF-F) improves geometric accuracy but also maintains the flexibility of incremental sheet forming.