Considerations Regarding the Industrial Implementation of Incremental Forming Process

Incremental forming is a promising manufacturing process which allow the user to obtain sheet metal parts, in a flexible manner, without the use of a die. However, the industry is still reluctant to apply the process on an industrial scale. Several drawbacks of the process which hinder its industrial implementation are reviewed in the paper. Among them, the low accuracy of the parts and the low productivity of the process are considered. The lack of dedicated technological equipment and specific CAM software tools are also seen as major drawbacks. Moreover, the lack of any analytical tools to predict the plastic behaviour of the processed part and to predict the moment when it loses its integrity influences the adoption of incremental forming on a large scale. Aside of summarizing these drawbacks, the paper tries to develop a decision-making system, based upon fuzzy logic, for assessing the degree of industrial implementation of the incremental forming process, if certain conditions are met.