Accuracy & Economics of sheetmetal forming using reconfigurable tooling

• The accuracy of the sheetmetal formed depends the accuracy with which the discrete elements are positioned, the smoothening of surface of the discrete elements and springback (Fig. 6)
• It is possible to compensate for spring back and other size variations using techniques such as experimental determination of the deformation transfer function and FEA method [20]
•  Papazian et al [20] reports that a reduction to 1/8th and 1/3rd of the current tool fabrication cycle time and labour hour respectively is obtained
• Owodunni et al [17], showed  that it is possible to achieve great savings in the capital investment to the extent that the cost of a reconfigurable tool can be comparable to that of a conventional die

Research issues in sheetmetal forming using reconfigurable tooling

• More investigations are needed to achieve low-cost positioning mechanism that are faster and for large scale tools
• The limit on the size of small features that can be captured need to be considered
• Efficient CAM system that will give more consideration to optimal planning is an important research issue
•  Experimental and numerical analysis of the mechanics of sheet metal forming using discrete elements also need to be investigated

Conclusions

• Contributions in the research which have great potential for rapid manufacturing of sheetmetal parts have been reviewed
• Reduction in cycle time and labour is possible for the reviewed technology
•  The possibility of having a capital cost for the technology comparable to conventional tooling has been demonstrated for prototypes.
• Several research issues that will address the mechanics, the equipment, software, accuracy and economics of rapid sheetmetal forming were identified and discussed

Acknowledgement

The University of Manchester is a partner of the EU-funded FP6 Innovative Production Machines and Systems (I*PROMS) Network of Excellence