A toolpath strategy for double-sided incremental forming of corrugated structures

This study focuses on developing a new toolpath strategy for manufacturing near-net shape corrugated structures using rectangular sheets whose two opposite edges are clamped based on the mechanics of Double-sided incremental forming (DSIF) process. The newly suggested strategy, Regional Plastic Incremental Bending (RPIB), is designed to capitalize on the effect of regional plastic bending in a way that a local geometric feature is incrementally formed without causing global elastic springback. The performance of the RPIB toolpath strategy is compared to the previously developed linear toolpath strategy that does not consider any anticipated springback errors in its design stage. It has been experimentally proven that the RPIB strategy results in significant improvements in the geometric accuracy of formed corrugated profiles.