Journal of Materials Processing Technology 130131 (2002) 4246

Effect of process parameters on formability in

incremental forming of sheet metal
Y.H. Kim*, J.J. Park
Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hong-Ik University, 72-1 Sangsu-Dong,
Mapo-Ku, Seoul 121-791, South Korea

Abstract
The formability of sheet metal appears better in incremental forming than in conventional forming. In this study, the effect of process
parameterstool type, tool size, feed rate, friction at the interface between tool and sheet, plane-anisotropy of sheeton the formability was
investigated by experiments and FEM analyses. It was found that the formability is improved when a ball tool of a particular size is used with a
small feed rate and a little friction. Due to the plane-anisotropy, the formability differs according to the direction of the tool movement.
# 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Keywords: Incremental forming; Sheet metal; Formability; Process parameter; FEM; Anisotropy

1. Introduction
Conventionally a sheet-metal component is manufactured
by using dies and punches that depend on the dimensions of
the component. Because of the high cost of dies and
punches, the conventional manufacturing method is adequate only for mass production. Due to the recent diversification of the customers demand in this field, new
manufacturing methods for a small-size production need
to be developed. Among the various methods developed over
the past few years [13], the incremental forming which
utilizes a simple tool has been studied with a great attention
[47].
Several studies have been performed with emphasis on
assessing and improving the formability in this forming
method. Iseki and Kumon [1] performed the incremental
stretching test for various materials and found that the FLCs
are approximately linear in this method. Kim and Yang [5]
proposed the double-forming technique to improve formability, assuming that only shear deformation occurs in the
material. Shim and Park [6] performed a series of experiments and suggested the straight groove test as a method to
assess the formability for annealed aluminum sheet.
In the present study, the effect of process parameters, such
as tool type, tool size, feed rate, friction at the interface
between tool and sheet, and plane-anisotropy of a sheet, on
the formability was investigated by performing a series of
*

Corresponding author.

0924-0136/02/$ see front matter # 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 7 8 8 - 4

the straight groove tests and FEM analyses. Two types of

tools were tested with and without lubrication: the ball tool
and the hemispherical head tool. Tool sizes of 5, 10 and
15 mm in diameter and feed rates of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 mm
were tested. The feed rate in this context refers to the
distance of the tool movement in the vertical direction in
relation to the sheet. The straight groove tests were also
performed both parallel to rolling direction (RD) and transverse direction (TD). The PAM-STAMP, a commercial FEM
code for the analysis of sheet metal forming, was utilized for
the FEM analyses.

2. Characteristics of formability in the incremental

forming
In the incremental forming of sheet metal, a simpleshaped tool imposes plastic deformation locally on the sheet
in a consecutive manner. An example is shown in Fig. 1,
where a ball tool imposes some plastic deformation on the
sheet in a CNC milling machine. The tool moves horizontally as well as vertically by a tool-path program, and forms a
shape from the sheet.
There are two characteristics of deformation in this
forming method. One is the deformation pattern. While
the tool moves straight on a horizontal plane, the deformation that occurs at the starting and ending points of the
straight line is biaxial stretching. The deformation that
occurs between these points is plane-strain stretching. As

Y.H. Kim, J.J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 130131 (2002) 4246

43

Fig. 1. Incremental forming of sheet metal on CNC milling machine.

Fig. 4. Surfaces formed by different types of tool with and without

lubrication.

Fig. 2. Forming limit curves in conventional forming and incremental

forming.

the curvature of the tool movement increases, the deformation turns more into biaxial stretching. The other characteristic is the formability of the deformation. As shown in Fig. 2,
the forming limit curve, which depicts the formability in the
major and minor strain space, is expressed as a straight line
with a negative slope. Especially, for an aluminum sheet, the
formability can be quantified as a scalar number of
emajor eminor [1]. It is noted that formability is the greatest
under plane-strain stretching, during which the minor strain
is zero. Therefore, a greater deformation of a sheet metal can
be achieved in the incremental forming.

Fig. 3. Coordinate system and deformed grids on a specimen from the

straight groove test.

Fig. 5. FLCs for different size tools in RD.

Fig. 6. FLCs for different size tools in TD.

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Y.H. Kim, J.J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 130131 (2002) 4246

3. Effect of process parameters

The material used in the present study was an aluminum
1050 sheet of 0.3 mm in thickness. The sheet was
130 mm  130 mm in size and fully annealed at 350 8C
for 2 h. The material properties are as follows: elastic
modulus 70 GPa, yield strength 32:5 MPa, R0 0:51,

R45 0:75, R90 0:48, with the flow stress of s
140e0:25 MPa [6]. In order to measure the strain, circular
and rectangular grids were prepared on the sheet. The

former was 2.54 mm in diameter and electrochemically

etched while the latter was 1 mm along one side and
scratched. The formability was obtained by the straight
groove test. An example of tested specimens is shown in
Fig. 3. The tool moved back and forth along a 40 mm
long straight path under a constant feed rate until a crack
was observed. The sheet was then removed from the
fixture and the major and minor strains of the deformed
grids on the non-contacted side of the sheet were measured.

Fig. 7. Distributions of major strain, minor strain and thickness predicted by PAM-STAMP with different size tools in RD and TD.

Y.H. Kim, J.J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 130131 (2002) 4246

3.1. Tool type and friction at the tool/sheet interface

Two types of tools, such as ball tool and hemispherical
head tool, were tested with and without lubrication. The ball
attached to the end of the ball tool rotates freely. The result
of the test is as follows. When the ball tool was used, the
value of emajor eminor was 0.72 with lubrication and 0.73
without lubrication. On the other hand, when the hemispherical head tool was used, the value was 0.67 with lubrication
and 0.69 without lubrication. Thus, using the ball tool
without lubrication is the most ideal combination of enhancing formability. The friction at the tool and sheet interface
increases the tool pressure, lowering the state of stress in the
sheet. As a result, the occurrence of crack is delayed and the
formability is improved. However, if the friction increases
too much, the sheet will crack.
Fig. 4 shows the surfaces of the grooves produced under
the above four conditions. The ball tool with lubrication left
no scratches, but the hemispherical head tool without lubrication left the most scratches.
3.2. Tool size and plane-anisotropy
Hemispherical head tools of three sizes were used: 5, 10 and
15 mm in diameter. The feed rate was maintained at 0.1 mm.
The major and minor strains at the deformed grids on the noncontacted side were measured. Values of emajor eminor are
compared in Figs. 5 and 6. When the tool movement was
parallel to RD, the value was found to be 0.92, 0.92 and 0.7 for
the tool diameter of 5, 10 and 15 mm, respectively. In contrast,
the value was 0.82, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively, in TD.
The crack occurred when the forming depth was 6, 7.5,
and 8.6 mm for the tool diameter of 5 mm with RD, 10 mm
with both RD and TD, and 15 mm with TD, respectively. As
the tool size increases, the deformation zone or the contact
zone increases and the level of strain decreases. In result, the
forming depth increases. The cracks were parallel to the
direction of tool movement in the cases of the 5 and 10 mm
tools. In contrast, the cracks were parallel to TD regardless
of the direction of tool movement for the 15 mm tool.
A dynamic explicit code, PAM-STAMP, was used to
analyze the deformation that occurred in the above experiments. The results of this code provide enough information
to understand the trend of deformation. The analysis was
performed until the forming depth reached 6, 7.5 and
8.6 mm for the tool diameter of 5, 10 and 15 mm, respectively, for both RD and TD. The major and minor strains and
thickness predicted by the code are presented in Fig. 7(a)
through (f). In the figures, the values obtained from the upper
surface, which is in contact with the tool, are denoted by
upper, while those obtained from the lower surface,
which is opposite to the contact surface, are denoted by
lower. Some facts are noticed in this result. The thickness
is great in the middle and small at the ends of the path.
However, the difference in thickness decreases as the tool
size increases. The major strain on the lower surface is

45

greater than that on the upper surface, but the difference

decreases as the tool size increases. The major strain is small
in the middle and great at the ends of the path, but the
difference decreases as the tool size increases. The minor
strain is almost zero except for at the ends of the path, on
both the upper and lower surfaces.
In the case of the 5 mm tool, the major strain in RD is
greater than that in TD, as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b). In
contrast, in the case of the 15 mm tool, the major strain in
TD is greater than that in RD, as shown in Fig. 7(e) and (f).
However, the major strain is approximately the same in both
RD and TD for the 10 mm tool, as shown in Fig. 7(c) and (d).
Thus, one can anticipate that the formability in TD is greater
for the 5 mm tool while the formability in RD is greater for
the 15 mm tool. In addition, the formabilities in RD and TD
should be the same for the 10 mm tool.
3.3. Feed rate
Using the feed rates of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 mm, the straight
groove tests were performed for both RD and TD. As shown in
Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. When the feed rate increased from
0.1 to 0.5 mm, the value of emajor eminor decreased from
0.92 to 0.68 in RD and decreased from 0.82 to 0.7 in TD. Thus,
it is clear that the formability becomes higher as the feed rate

Fig. 8. FLCs with different feed rates (Pz) with 5 mm tool in RD.

Fig. 9. FLCs with different feed rates (Pz) with 5 mm tool in TD.

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Y.H. Kim, J.J. Park / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 130131 (2002) 4246

becomes lower. However, one must keep in account that a

lower feed rate brings about a greater forming time.
4. Conclusion
The formability of sheet metal in incremental forming is
different from that in conventional forming. Although a
legitimate method to assess the formability is yet to be
found, the straight groove test is recommended. In this study,
the effect of process parameters on the formability was
investigated.
The result of the study can be summarized as follows:
(1) The ball tool is more effective than the hemispherical
head tool in terms of formability.
(2) A little friction at the tool/sheet interface helps to
improve the formability.
(3) The formability increases as the feed rate decreases.
(4) With the configurations of the sheet used in the
experiment, the best formability was obtained with
the 10 mm tool.
(5) Because of the plane-anisotropy, the formability differs
according to the direction of the tool movement.

Acknowledgements
The present study was supported by KOSEF through the
ERC for NSDM at the Pusan National University.

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