Emissivity Factor of Thermoplastic Materials for a Robot Bending Process

Abstract

During thermal incremental forming of semi-finished products, the temperature, spring-back, and morphological structure of the material are interdependent. To determine the forming temperature of the semi-finished product, knowledge about the material-specific properties is required. The processing heat for amorphous polymers is near the glass transition temperature. For semi-crystalline materials, this heating temperature is near the melting point. In approximation to these temperatures, the material can be bent such that a hot core in the semi-finished product leads to low applied force at the robot end effector. Therefore, the semi-finished product is brought near the processing heat by the supply of heat. Subsequently, the core temperature is determined by infrared thermography to observe the heating process. This method provides a connection between the bending force and core temperature, as well as determines the quality of bending.