A Programme of Work to Improve the Incremental Forming of Smoothly Contoured Sections in Sheet Metal using a CNC Press Brake

摘要

The use of apress brake to produce smoothly contoured sections in sheet metal eliminates the requirement for specialised tooling with consequent benefits. It is done using the incremental forming process which is described. This is an extension of air bending using V-dies, with the sheet moved in small increments between bends. The paper describes the experience gained to date with experimental tests and with finite element simulation of the process and also, in more detail, the current programme of work. The aim of the current work is to characterise the process to the degree that high accuracy profiles can be consistently produced. This will require more complicated CNC programs than those currently prepared by rough-and-ready methods. It is therefore also the intention to develop a CAM system which will automatically generate the CNC programs based on the CAD drawings and the data obtained from experimental tests.