Incremental forming using KUKA KR210-2 industrial robot - research regarding design rules and process modelling

Abstract

Incremental sheet forming (ISF) process show a great potential in the manufacturing of small series production or prototype development parts. One of the sheet metal forming process, where the contact between punch and metal sheet is in a single point, is known as single point incremental forming (SPIF). The part is manufacture with a simple tool, known as punch, that performs a series of combined movements on the vertically and horizontally directions. The paper introduces a study regarding the design rules and process modelling of this unconventional process, by means of a KUKA KR210-2 industrial robot as technological equipment able to control the correlated movement of the punch. Supplementary, the design of the experimental layout, the process simulations and the singularity problems are considered.