Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 654±658

The formability of aluminum sheet in incremental forming

Myoung-Sup Shim, Jong-Jin Park*
Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hong-Ik University, 72-1 Sangsu-Dong, Mapo-Ku, Seoul 121-791, South Korea

Abstract

In incremental forming, the sheet exhibits a unique pattern of the forming limit curve. In the present investigation, a forming tool
containing a freely rotating ball was developed and used to characterize the formability of fully annealed Al 1050 sheet. Various strain paths
were applied to the sheet by imposing different tool paths and the major and minor strains of deformed grids around cracks were measured.
It was found that the formability of the sheet shows a distinct dependence on the strain path and appears as a straight line in the forming
limit diagram. The most suitable forming limit curve for incremental forming was found to be the one that was obtained from a test in
which straight paths, with an incremental increase of tool depth, were imposed using a square specimen with the ®xed periphery.
# 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Incremental forming; Forming limit curve; Strain-path dependence

1. Introduction 2. Deformation characteristics of incremental forming

In sheet metal forming, the dies and the punches are
manufactured to be close to the shape to be produced and
used as the media to impose the deformation to the blank.
This method is appropriate for the mass production of
automotive and electric appliance components in which
the cost for die manufacture and trial is less burden.
Recently, a new technology has been developed to meet
the market needs for the small-batch production of sheet
metal components [1±4]. In this technology, a small-size
tool moves along user-speci®ed paths and incrementally
develops a desired shape.
Previous studies relevant to the technology can be sum-
marized as follows. A ball-type roller moves on a blank and
forms various shapes according to the tool path. To increase
the forming capabilities, special rollers are used as blank
holders. When the sharp edges are to be formed, a ®xed tool
at the center is used with a blank holder, that moves
vertically; the blank is reversed and shaped on the external
surface until the blank is formed as a cup. Cracks at sharp
edges hardly occur in this method.
In the present investigation, a tool containing a freely
rotating ball was developed and applied to various forming
tests on a CNC milling machine. Some phenomena observed
in the tests were examined by grid measurement and ®nite
element analysis, using a commercial program.
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: ‡82-2-320-1637; fax: ‡82-2-322-7003.
E-mail address: jjpark@wow.hongik.ac.kr (J.-J. Park).
The concept of incremental forming by a ball tool is
presented schematically in Fig. 1. A thin metallic sheet is
held at its periphery by a blank holder and the ball rolls on
the blank and develops the shape. The path of the ball is
often a closed or near-closed loop on a horizontal plane and
the forming depth is controlled by the tool depth. The plastic
deformation developed by such a small-size tool is highly
con®ned to the vicinity of the contact area and progresses
incrementally along the tool path.
Fig. 2 shows a photograph of the tool during the process of
forming a square cup. The diameter of the ball is 9.525 mm.
The friction condition was maintained at a very low level by
applying a suf®cient amount of bearing oil on the sheet
surface.
The material used in the experiment was a fully annealed
Al 1050 sheet with a thickness of 0.3 mm. From tension
tests, E ˆ 70 GPa; R0 ˆ 0:51; R45 ˆ 0:75; R90 ˆ 0:48 and
 ˆ 140e0:25 MPa were determined. Circular grids of
s
2.54 mm diameter were electro-chemically etched on the
specimens and the major and minor strains of the grids were
measured after deformation.
2.1. Deformation along a square path
The tool path on a plane is a closed loop which usually
consists of straight lines, smooth curves and corners. In
order to ®nd the deformation characteristics along the tool
path, a square loop with one side of 55 mm was analyzed by

0924-0136/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 6 7 9 - 3
 M.-S. Shim, J.-J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 654±658 655

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of incremental forming.

Fig. 3. The FEM model (a) and the tool path (b) used in the analysis.
Fig. 2. A ball tool loaded on a machining center.

PAM-STAMP. Fig. 3(a) and (b) presents the model and the
tool path, respectively, used in the analysis. The tool moved
vertically by 0.5 mm, after which it moved horizontally
along the path A±B±C±D±A. Then, it repeated the move-
ment.
The thickness distributions predicted by the analysis at the
tool depths of 0.5 and 1 mm are presented in Fig. 4(a) and
(b), respectively. The reduction in thickness is low at A,
medium at B and D, and high at C among the four points. It
was attributed to the fact as follows. By pressing the point A,
the vertical displacement became high at A, medium at B
and D, and low at C. As the tool moved on the horizontal
plane, it thus yielded a small deformation at A, a medium
deformation at B and D, and a high deformation at C. This

Fig. 4. Thickness distributions predicted by FEM analysis: (a) tool depth ˆ 0:5 mm; (b) tool depth ˆ 1:0 mm.
656 M.-S. Shim, J.-J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 654±658

Fig. 5. (a) Major and (b) minor strain distributions predicted by FEM analysis.

phenomenon became more distinctive as the tool depth
increased. The major and minor strain distributions pre-
dicted by the analysis are presented in Fig. 5(a) and (b),
respectively. The major strain is low at A, medium at B and
D, and high at C. It is low at the sides and high at the corners
of each side. The minor strain is low and almost constant
along a side, but abruptly increases to the value of the major
strain at the corners.
From the results of the analysis, it was found that a near
equi-biaxial stretching occurs at a corner, while a near plane-
strain stretching occurs along a side.
3. Formability
In order to estimate the formability of the aluminum sheet,
the dome stretching test and the ball stretching test were
performed. These tests continued until the cracks were
observed. The major and minor strains of deformed grids
around the crack were measured and used to establish the
forming limit diagram.
line with a negative slope in the positive region of minor
strain in the forming limit diagram. In the present study, four
different cases, A, B, C, and D, were tested, where the
different vertical and horizontal displacements were
imposed. In the case of A, vertical displacements of 2, 4,
6, 8 and 10 mm were imposed on the ®ve specimens and then
horizontal displacement was imposed on each specimen,
until the crack occurred; they are designated as cases 1±5 in
Fig. 7. On the other hand, in the case of B, horizontal
displacements of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm were imposed on
the ®ve specimens and then the vertical displacement was
imposed on each specimen until the crack occurred; they are
designated as cases 1±5 in Fig. 7. Only the vertical or the
horizontal displacement was imposed in C, which are
designated as cases 1 and 2 in Fig. 8, while the vertical
and the horizontal displacements were alternately imposed
in D.
The results obtained for the cases of A and B are presented
in Fig. 7. In the case of A, it is shown that the formability
increased as the vertical displacement increased. Cracks
occurred at the ends, and at the mid-width of the specimen.

3.1. Dome stretching

In the present investigation, a hemispherical punch with a

diameter of 20 mm was used. Three different lubrication
conditions, such as no lubrication, single lubrication, and
multi-lubrication, were utilized to produce different strain
paths. For the negative region of the minor strain in the
forming limit diagram, uniaxial stretching tests were per-
formed with the specimens of different widths. As shown in
Fig. 6, the forming limit curve appeared to be the conven-
tional ``V'' shape with the lowest value located at the major
axis.

3.2. Ball stretching

It is known that the formability in incremental forming

reveals a unique characteristics; it appears to be a straight Fig. 6. The FLD from dome and uniaxial tests.
 M.-S. Shim, J.-J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 654±658 657

Fig. 9. Results for case D.

Fig. 7. Results for case A and case B.

In the case of B, as the horizontal displacement increased,

the formability progressed in the direction, where the major
strain increased. In other words, as the vertical displacement
decreased, the formability progressed in the direction, where
the minor strain decreased. Cracks occurred at the center of
the specimen.
Fig. 8 presents the result for case C. When horizontal
displacement was imposed, cracks occurred at the ends of
the width, as in the case of A. When vertical displacement
was imposed, a crack occurred at the center of the specimen
as in the case of B. Fig. 9 presents the result for case D.
When a square specimen was used, a crack occurred ®rst at
both the ends and later at the center of the horizontal
displacement. It was noted that a near equi-biaxial stretching
and plane-strain stretching were developed at the ends and at
the center, respectively. Fig. 10. FLCs obtained by ball tool tests.

The forming limit curves obtained from these tests

appeared to be two straight lines as shown in Fig. 10.
One is FLC-1 from the cases of A, B, and C, and the other
is FLC-2 from the case D. These two lines intersect the
major axis at similar locations.
However, they show different formabilities at the region
of equi-biaxial stretching because of their different slopes.

4. Forming of various shapes

Fig. 11 presents photographs of formed shapes: triangle,

square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, circle and square with
round corners. Cracks occurred at the corners except for the
circle. From the measurement of the grids, it was con®rmed
that near equi-biaxial stretching and plane-strain stretching
Fig. 8. Results for case C. developed at corners and at sides, respectively. In the case of
658 M.-S. Shim, J.-J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 113 (2001) 654±658
Fig. 11. Various shapes formed by the ball tool.
circle, it was expected that the tool depth would be greatly
increased because there were no corners. However, it does
not increase much. From the measurements, it was noticed
that the minor strain in the circle developed so as to be much
larger than that for any other shape.
The major and minor strains measured at grids around the
crack are presented in Fig. 12. As shown in the ®gure, cracks
can be predicted by FLD-2, but not by the conventional
forming limit curve.
Fig. 12. FLD from various shapes.
5. Conclusions
The present investigation was performed as a fundamental
study of incremental forming. During the course of the
investigation, a forming tool containing a freely rotating
ball was developed and applied to the forming of various
shapes. Finite element analysis was successfully performed
and helped to understand the deformation characteristics of
incremental forming. A unique forming limit curve for this
special process was obtained, and veri®ed by comparing
with experimental results.
The result of the present investigation can be summarized
as follows:
1. The deformation developed by incremental forming is
con®ned to the vicinity of the contact area with the tool.
2. In a closed-loop of the tool path, a near equi-biaxial
stretching develops at a corner, while a near plane-strain
stretching develops along a straight side. The deforma-
tion of the former is greater than that of the latter for the
same magnitude of tool depth.
3. Cracks occur mostly at the corners. This is due to the
fact that the deformation at a corner is greater than that
along a side.
4. The forming limit curve in incremental forming is quite
different from that in conventional forming. It appears to
be a straight line with a negative slope in the positive
region of the minor strain in the forming limit diagram.
5. A recommended test to acquire the forming limit curve
is the alternate imposition of vertical and horizontal
displacements, to form a deep and straight groove at the
central region of a square specimen, with the periphery
®xed.
The application of the incremental forming technology is
restricted to simple shapes at present. However, the restric-
tion will be overcome by the intelligent enhancement of the
forming apparatus. More complicated shapes will be tried,
based on the forming limit curve and the ®nite element
analysis, in future study.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the KOSEF through the ERC
for NSDM at Pusan National University.
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