SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

AN OVERVIEW ON INCREMENTAL SHEET FORMING, A METHOD

FOR RAPID MANUFACTURING OF HOLLOW METAL PARTS
Alexandru C. FILIP1 and Ion NEAGOE1
ABSTRACT: During the last decade, incremental forming is an innovative processing method which has
been strongly investigated. Its potential as a flexible manufacturing method was noticed. This paper aims
to present a comparative study of the recent worldwide developments in the field of incremental sheet
forming (ISF), as a flexible method for manufacturing hollow metal parts. There are pointed out its
particularities for rapid manufacturing and small quantity production. The advantages and the weak points
of the method are classified and some future strategies of improvement are drawn up. The paper includes
the results of some research done by the authors on sheet manufacturing by spinning, seen as an ISF
process.
KEY WORDS: incremental forming, metal spinning, rapid manufacturing, AISF, sheet metal.

INTRODUCTION

In the manufacturing world of today, the

demand of highly customized products is increasing
every day. Even if the mass production is still used,
the small quantity batches are more and more
required. The key words of manufacturing are:
flexibility, product customization, customer
orientation, high quality, low production cost.
The specialists all over the world must find
quick answers to these new challenges, introducing
new sustainable technologies which can assure the
survival and development of their companies.
In sheet metal forming, the manufacturing
processes evolution towards a more flexible
production has made big steps in the last period of
time. Introducing the numerical control for
stamping and bending has strongly increased their
rate of flexibility. On the other hand, the deep
drawing process remained a little behind, due to the
requirement of dedicated punch and die, mainly for
asymmetric shaped sheet parts.
Probably, an important step was done by the
hydroforming process, which eliminated one of the
dedicated tools and, thus, increasing the process
flexibility with lower rates of the cost.
Another step was the idea of replacing the
conventional tools with the so-called multi-point
tools. The principle is to use of a set of discrete
punches whose height is adjustable and creates a
reconfigurable tool, according to any shape of the
__________________________________________
1

Transilvania University of Brasov, Manufacturing

Engineering Department, str.Mihai Viteazul no.5,
500174-Brasov, Romnia, tel./fax+40.268.421318.
E-mail: filipal@unitbv.ro; neagoe_ion@unitbv.ro

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part to be formed. The flexibility is increased, but

setup and accuracy are still today issues to be
solved.
Another important milestone is considered to
be the incremental forming process. It is a relatively
new forming process which doesnt require
dedicated punches and dies for the deep drawing of
hollow parts. This fact makes it the most flexible
forming process known so far.
The process of incremental forming can be
used both for bulk and sheet forming. However,
considering the academic research and the industry
interest, the process was mostly studied for
manufacturing sheet hollow parts, especially for
asymmetric shapes. Thus, the process is usually
named Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF), or
Asymmetric Incremental Sheet Forming (AISF).
The most important advantages of ISF can be
pointed out easily as following:
- a high rate of flexibility among the deep
drawing methods to manufacture a new part,
one needs only to load the new NC program in
the NC equipment of the machine and a few
technological parameters adjustment;
- the set-up costs can be, practically, zero, as
usually, a hammer-type rounded universal tool
is used for most of the parts;
- no need for dedicated machine-tools usually,
a milling machine is suitable to carry out the
process of forming;
- a low cost method for rapid manufacturing of
new parts or remaking the old parts whose
conventional dies are not available;
- a higher rate of formability than the classical
deep drawing process, due a more
advantageous stress state created by using the
localized deformation.

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Like all other manufacturing methods, ISF has

its weak points. The main problems to be improved
are:
- a low productivity rate which leads to a long
manufacturing time usually ISF needs several
minutes comparative to seconds in the case of
conventional deep drawing process;
- a not sufficient accuracy of the parts shape,
usually demanded in such cases the
springback is much stronger and it needs a well
compensation to achieve the required
precision;
- not enough theoretical knowledge of ISF
even if FEM was used to understand the
process, there is still room for some research to
clarify the mathematical model which explains
the deformation process.
By analyzing the technical literature in the
field in the last decade, this paper aims to give a
comprehensive image on the incremental sheet
forming process, emphasizing its applicability for
rapid prototyping of new parts and rapid
manufacturing of small quantity parts. It also gives
a critical eye on the process, pointing out the future
directions of research, as foreseen by the authors of
this paper.
The authors of the present paper consider that
in the field of incremental sheet forming some
clarifications on the terminology can be made. In
the next section, these facts are presented.

ISF TERMINOLOGY

The name incremental forming can be used,

more generally, for the processes which form the
part by creating localized deformations, moved
progressively on a certain path to cover the entire
surface of the product.
Considering the previous definition of the
process, it must be accepted that manufacturing
methods like metal spinning or cold rolling are also
incremental
forming
processes.
Thus,
a
classification is required, depending on the shape of
the part:
- metal spinning, used mostly for axi-symmetric
shapes;
- incremental
forming,
named
usually
asymmetric single-point incremental forming
(AISF), used for non symmetric shapes.
Both of the two methods were explored with
more interest in the last decade, due to the growing
demands of customized products and small sized
production in the field of sheet metal forming.
For both of the two methods the main tool is a
universal one. It can be a hammer-type rounded tool

or a roller. Metal spinning is done on machine-tools

similar to common lathes, usually called spinning
machines or even spinning lathes. AISF is done on
NC milling machines by adapting their table for
sheet clamping.
Depending on the processing strategy, AISF
can be performed in several ways. As shown in
section 4, there are SPIF, TPIF and multipoint ISF
(MPIF). Some specialists noticed also two possible
directions of forming, downwards and backwards,
usually naming them negative and, respectively,
positive incremental forming.
Beyond the terminology used in industry or
academic research for this class of forming
processes, its strong development is foreseen in the
future of customized production.

ISF BY METAL SPINNING

Metal spinning is a manufacturing process

known since the Middle Age. It is mainly used for
axi-symmetric parts and, until the numerical control
was introduced, it required high working skills. The
process was carried out on a common lathe, figure
1. The blank sheet is clamped with a tail stock
facing a profiled mandrel. By handling a rod-type
tool with a rounded head, the craftsman forms the
hollow part following a progressive strategy.
The next stages were the creation of spinning
machines with hydraulic copying device and,
nowadays, with NC equipment. Practically, any
shape of axi-symmetric hollow parts, made of metal
sheet, can be manufactured on the latter type of
machines. For example, figure 2 presents the
strategy for manufacturing a cone by a multi-pass
path.

Figure 1. Metal spinning on a common lathe

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Figure 2. Strategy of spinning for a conical part

Depending on the shape and dimensions of the

part, a certain manufacturing strategy is applied. If
the part has a small relative height, it can be
processes in one single pass.
If it is higher, it needs a multi-pass path, which
can be linear or curved.
The main issue about metal spinning is
creating a technological database with the values of
the main parameters used in the process such as the
feed rate, the decreasing rate angle and the angle at
the first pass, the radius of the roller and the spacing
between two successive passes.
Some own research of the authors introduced
new math models of the process and CAD
simulators to speed up the set-up time for a certain
kind of part and to minimize the risk of failure due
to a wrong chose of the parameters values.
Further research is required to extend the
technological database and the range of shapes
which can be tested on the CAD simulators.

ASYMMETRIC ISF

Asymmetric incremental sheet forming is

considered an innovative manufacturing process
with a high flexibility and a great potential to be
used on a large scale basis in the industry.
Incremental sheet forming (ISF) was first
introduced by Roux and Leszak by registering USA
patents on a new dieless method of forming.
The principle is relatively simple, figure 3: the
sheet is clamped with a blankholder on a main plate
and a hammer-type rounded tool is moved towards
a certain path, with a certain depth feed rate and
progressively deforms the sheet, giving it a hollow
shape.
This type of mechanics of forming,
borrowed from the milling process, eliminates the
specific punch and die, used normally in a
conventional deep drawing process and gives a high
flexibility at low set-up costs.
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Figure 3. Principle of SPIF

The parameters which influence the process are

considered to be:
- the shape of the path followed by the tool;
- the speed of the tool along the path;
- the depth feed rate;
- the radius of the forming tool;
- the presence or absence of any back support of
the sheet during the deformation process.
The main advantage of the ISF flexibility at
low costs was noticed. Recent research have
foreseen some industry opportunities such as
automotive body prototypes, aerospace housings
and panels, maintenance of old and vintage cars,
housings for lighting, medical prosthetics and,
generally, all cases where rapid manufacturing is
required.
All researchers accepted so far a classification
of ISF in two major groups:
- Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF),
fig,3, when there is no back support on the
other side of the sheet facing with the forming
tool;
- Two Point Incremental Forming (TPIF), figure
4, when there is a back support of the sheet,
like a simple universal plate (a) or a
conventional specific punch (b).
Analyzing the mechanics of forming of the two
methods, one can easily notice that SPIF, figure 3,
is a negative incremental process, named also
dieless forming, because it doesnt require any die.
TPIF, figure 4, is a positive incremental process
which requires a supporting punch.
The process of deformation at ISF is complex.
The stress state, is formed on a localized forming
zone and is in permanent movement according to
the tool movement along its designated path. The
radius of the tool directly influences the contact area

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with the sheet, directly generating the processing

force.
The stress and strain states are similar to
conventional deep drawing for SPIF and a little
different for TPIF. However, the localized character
of the deformation makes the difference and allows
values of the deformation degree greater then in
conventional deep drawing.
The main challenge was to create a suitable
theoretical model able to predict with enough
accuracy the stress and strain states which directly
lead to a correct prediction of the final shape and
dimensions of the part. Another challenge, still not
solved today, was to answer why the forming with a
localized deformation allows much greater rates of
stretching, beyond the conventional forming limit
curves, used in classical deep drawing.
Theoretical models were introduced the
accuracy of the parts was analyzed and FEM
models were tested.
Recent researches have revealed and modeled
the mechanism of deformation in ISF and
established mathematical equations with the process
parameters involved: stress and strain, wall
thickness, radius of the tool, forming force.

optimize the tool path according to the accuracy and

shape of the part.
Between the two major types of ISF, SPIF and
TPIF, there must be pointed out some differences
which can influence their applicability in a certain
case and the accuracy of the part:
- in SPIF the forming is made, usually, from the
outer to the inner area of the sheet, compared
to TPIF, where it is reversed;
- while SPIF does not need any dedicated tool,
in some cases, TPIF needs a specific tool,
according to the parts final shape;
- in SPIF the instability of the process and
springback are more intense, while TPIF is
more stable and springback has smaller values;
Besides the use of one forming tool, some
research was carried out to design a strategy of
using several tools simultaneously. The process,
figure 5, named multipoint incremental forming, is
more complex and needs dedicated machine tools,
able to control the movement of the forming tools.
This process is suitable for large scale products to
increase the production productivity and to decrease
the springback effects.
Despite all these researches, the mechanics of
deformation is still not clearly understood because
of its complexity determined by the localized
deformation which moves progressively on the
sheet during the process.
There is still needed a simple effective model
to explain the influence of major process parameters
and their interaction and to give a better control to
the springback which directly affects the parts
accuracy. Some recent research made important
steps to achieve the previous goals.

Figure 5. Principle of multipoint ISF

Figure 4. Principle of TPIF

One other issue was the strategy of tool

movement. As in milling processes, during ISF, the
path of the tool directly influences the
manufacturing time and the parts accuracy. Several
researches proposed some improved strategies to

One interesting direction of research noticed is

that of joining ISF with other known forming
processes. For example present a new hybrid
process, where ISF is combined with stretching. In
the first stage of the process, figure 6, stretching is
used to process the major shape of a certain part and
in the second stage, ISF is used to process local
concave shapes such as pockets or grooves. This
strategy assures a decrease of the whole processing

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time and a better accuracy of the local shapes,

because of the backward forming in their case.
A new direction for ISF is foreseen by some
researchers, the one of using robotized arms instead
of the usual forming tool driven by a milling
machine. This process, already named robot-based
ISF or roboforming, gain terrain as it appears to
increase the parts accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Looking back to the sections previously

presented, it can be surely stated that incremental
sheet forming ISF is, probably, the answer to the
challenge of increasing flexibility in the field of
sheet forming.
The process answers well to the flexible
productions main requirement manufacturing
small or single sized lots with low costs and a short
switching time.

Figure 6. Combined stretch forming with AISF

The achievements made in the last decade are

significant. The process is passing to a new level,
that of an industrially suitable technology.
Most of the last researches, focused on
improving accuracy of the part, were successful and
new strategies of processing occurred, solving one
of the weak points the uncontrolled springback of
the material.
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Future developments must improve the design

of the CAM module which controls the tool
movement, able to assure the suitable forming
strategy according to any kind of hollow shape. The
tool movement can be optimized to compensate the
springback by processing data of parts geometry,
on-line measured during the process of forming.

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NOTATION

The following symbols are used in this paper:

ISF = Incremental Sheet Forming
AISF = Asymmetric Incremental Sheet Forming
SPIF = Single Point Incremental Forming
TPIF = Two Point Incremental Forming
MPIF = Multipoint Incremental Forming.

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