A toolpath strategy for improving geometric accuracy in double-sided incremental sheet forming

The double-sided incremental forming (DSIF) improved the process flexibility compared to other incremental sheet forming (ISF) processes. Despite the flexible nature, it faces the challenge of low geometric precision like ISF variants. In this work, two strategies are used to overcome this. First, a novel method is employed to determine the optimal support tool location for improving geometric precision. In this method, the toolpath oriented the tools to each other systematically in the circumferential direction. Besides, it squeezed the sheet by the same amount at the point of interest. The impacts of various support tool positions in the circumferential direction are evaluated for geometric precision. The results demonstrate that the support tool should support the master tool within 10° to its local normal in the circumferential direction to improve the geometric accuracy. Second, a two-stage process reduced the geometric error of the part by incrementally accommodating the springback error by artificially increasing the step size for the second stage. With the optimal support tool position and two-stage DSIF, the geometric precision of the part has improved significantly. The proposed method is compared to the best DSIF toolpath strategies for geometric accuracy, surface roughness, forming time, and sheet thickness fluctuations using grey relational analysis (GRA). It outperforms the other toolpath strategies including single-stage DSIF, accumulative double-sided incremental forming (ADSIF), and two-stage mixed double sided incremental forming (MDSIF). Our approach can improve geometric precision in complex parts by successfully employing the support tool and managing the springback incrementally.