Revisiting the fundamentals of single point incremental forming by means of membrane analysis

Knowledge of the physics behind the fracture of material at the transition between the inclined wall and the corner radius of the sheet is of great importance for understanding the fundamentals of single point incremental forming (SPIF). How the material fractures, what is the state of strain and stress in the small localized deformation zone and how these two subjects are brought together in order to explain the overall formability of SPIF in terms of ductile damage are still not well understood. However, they are of great importance for improving the robustness and enhancing the predictability of currently existing numerical models and for extending the scope of industrial applications of the process. This paper attempts to provide answers to these questions by means of a new theoretical model for rotational symmetric SPIF that was developed under membrane analysis with bi-directional in-plane contact friction forces. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.