Influence of toolpath strategies on the final accuracy and thickness distributions in multi-stage incremental forming

Abstract. This study focuses on finding a toolpath strategy for accurately forming geometric details on a preshaped sheet metal part by incremental forming in multiple steps. The final thickness distributions and geometrical accuracy are analyzed for spiraling and dedicated feature toolpath strategies. The results are compared to forming the full part (base shape with details) in a conventional single stage manner. Forming the part in multiple steps did improve the accuracy of the part, by decreasing the underforming of the base shape compared to single stage forming. The observed overforming was highly influenced by the location of the detail. In terms of thickness distributions, the toolpath strategy highly influenced the location of the minimal thickness inside each detail. Here, the dedicated feature toolpath proved to be effective for achieving a more uniform thickness distribution.