Effects of the relative tool rotation direction on formability during the incremental forming of titanium sheets

The effects of tool rotation direction during single point incremental forming of pure titanium were experimentally studied. Axisymmetric components with a varying wall angle were formed using a round-tipped tool of 10 mm diameter and following a 3D spiral tool path. Test runs were executed by changing one factor at a time. Spindle rotation was tested in both the climb and the conventional directions. Tool step depth between runs was increased by a fixed interval over the range of 0.35 mm up to the plate thickness of 0.8 mm. The experimental results obtained by a comparison between the two forming strategies and their impact on the characteristics of formability are discussed in this paper. The achieved level of the forming angle (75 ° ), and the reduction in geometric deviations from the conventional strategy, presents interesting findings. Considerable variations in the trends of forces and temperature between the two forming strategies are presented and discussed.