Investigations about the Single Point Incremental Forming of Anisotropic Titanium Alloy Sheets

The present work focuses the attention on the Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) of the Titanium (Ti) alloy Ti-6Al-4V. Tensile tests were carried out using the optical strain measurement system Aramis3D, in order to determine the mechanical behaviour of the alloy and to investigate the anisotropy of such alloy. Finite Element (FE) simulations of the SPIF process (using ABAQUS/explicit) were performed using a simple but non-axialsymmetric shape (truncated pyramid) with the aim of investigating the effect of both the tool/pitch ratio (D/p) and the draw angle (α), taking into account the anisotropic behaviour. The analysis of plastic strains and thinning maps, together with the evaluation of shape errors originated by the forming process, highlighted that the parameter D/p plays a key role in the SPIF. Results from the preliminary FE analysis were used for investigating the production by SPIF of an automotive component (car door shell). A specific subroutine was created by the authors for automatically generating the tool path to be used in both the FE simulations and the manufacturing of parts by SPIF on a CNC milling machine.