The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-018-03221-9

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Research on the double-sided incremental forming toolpath planning

and generation based on STL model
Hu Zhu 1 & Dongxuan Xiao 1 & Jaeguan Kang 2

Received: 1 August 2018 / Accepted: 13 December 2018

# Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
In order to take the advantages of the double-sided incremental forming (DSIF) that can freely switch the pressing and supporting
functions of the two tools and realize the forming of the sheet parts with protruding features in both the positive and negative
directions of the sheet (the sheet part with bidirectional protruding feature), a method for the double-sided incremental forming
based on the stereo lithographic (STL) model was proposed. The method first classifies the forming features according to the
protruding direction and the position relationship of the model into the different types of the features to be formed. The main
forming surface and the supporting surface are determined by the types of the forming features, and the pressing and supporting
tasks of the main tool and slave tool heads are assigned. Then, the cutter location points of the main tool and slave tool are
generated, and the toolpath of the main tool and slave tool are planned out according to the forming sequence and the forming
methods of the different forming features. Finally, a method of the interference detection and correction between the forming tool
head and the sheet part is proposed. The finite element numerical simulation and the forming experiments of the sheet part with
bidirectional protruding features show that the proposed toolpath generation method for the DSIF is applicable; the DSIF toolpath
generated based on the STL model can fabricate the sheet part with the bidirectional protruding feature.

Keywords Incremental forming . Double-sided incremental forming . Feature recognition . Toolpath generation . STL model

1 Introduction tool heads, one of which works as a support and plays a

The CNC incremental forming technology of the sheet metal
parts is a new type of the flexible sheet forming technology
[1], which can form the complex geometry sheet parts without
complicated forming equipment, and is suitable for the
forming of the small batch and individualized sheet parts
[2]. It can be widely used in the medical instruments, trans-
portation, aerospace, and other fields [3].
The double-sided incremental forming (DSIF) is a kind
of CNC incremental forming technology [4, 5]. The differ-
ence from the single point incremental forming (SPIF) is
that the forming process of the DSIF uses two extruding
* Hu Zhu
zhuhu10@163.com
1 in the study. The model recognition and partitioning as
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shenyang
Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, Liaoning, China
2 ated in the same software system. Malhotra et al. [9] ob-
School of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Kyungnam
University, Changwon 51767, South Korea
supporting role instead of the support in the SPIF. The
DSIF has the advantages of the double side extrusion,
and the two extruding tool heads perform synchronous
and coordinated motion in the entire forming process [6].
The reasonable adjustment of the clearance between the
two tool heads can ensure that both tool heads maintain
the pressing effect on the sheet during the forming process,
and improve the forming precision and surface quality of
the sheet parts [7]. For the research on the DSIF, Lingam
et al. [8] proposed a method based on the STEP model,
which has the functions of the feature recognition, the main
and slave tool head switching, and the forming sequence
determination. However, the researches on the algorithms
for the toolpath planning and generation of the sheet part
with protruding features on both positive and negative di-
rections have not been carried out, and the STL model
without topological information has not been considered
well as the toolpaths of the two tool heads are not gener-
tained the thickness of the sheet using the law of sinusoidal
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Supporting
Feature A shaped frame fixed with two forming tool head, which
indicated that the DSIF is a very valuable forming method
Pressing
Feature B for the complex-shaped sheet parts. Wu [15] proposed two
kinds of forming toolpath strategies for the DSIF with dif-
Pressing ferent relative positions of the two tool heads on both sides
Supporting of the sheet. But the experimental sheet parts involved in
this study are conical flat-topped boss parts with relatively
Fig. 1 DSIF for the bidirectional protruding feature
simple shapes, the forming angle of the symmetrical rotary
parts is constant, and the relative position of the two tool
head is relatively single during the forming process; the
thinning and changed the spacing between the two tools
forming scheme is not suitable for the sheet parts with
using the value of s as a pressing factor (0 ≤ s ≤ 1) so that
the multi-features and non-rotating type. Zhang et al. [16]
the sheet between the two tools are subjected to the differ-
proposed a multi-pass DSIF strategy based on the equipo-
ent degrees of the pressing pressure, and generated the
tential surfaces. The result shows that compared with the
toolpath using Visual Basic based on the API of the
SPIF, the DSIF has higher contour accuracy, lower thick-
CATIA. However, in the toolpath generation, only the mu-
ness reduction rate, and more uniform thickness distribu-
tual contact and vertical relationship of the main and slave
tion. The proposed multi-pass DSIF method is especially
tool heads with respect to the contact surface are consid-
suitable for the features of the intermediate platform and
ered. In view of the disengagement problem between the
differential protruding. However, the forming method is
slave tool head and the sheet at the late stage of the DSIF,
only applicable to the rotary parts. Fang [17] generated
Meier et al. [10] made the main and slave tool heads to
the incremental forming toolpath using the method of
always contact with the forming surface of the sheet by
layering and analyzed the influence of the tool radius, back
controlling the slave tool head using the combination of
pressure, and the forming toolpath strategy on the defor-
the displacement and force. However, for the forming of
mation behavior and forming performance, and established
the free-form sheet parts, the amount of the control force
the forming fracture limit map. However, the toolpath gen-
required is cumbersome due to the spatial variation, and
eration module based on the secondary development of the
the need to be predetermined by the experimental iteration.
UG does not solve the problem of how to automatically
Malhotra et al. [11] proposed an ADSIF (accumulative
extract and classify the local geometric features of the
double-sided forming) strategy that conducted the forming
complex models and generate continuous and ordered
from the inside to the outside in the same Z height plane.
forming toolpath, and cannot deal with the sheet parts with
Compared with the traditional forming toolpath from the
protruding and concave shapes. It can be seen that the
outside to the inside, the ADSIF can guarantee the contact
forming capability of the SPIF has not been sufficient for
between the two tool heads and the sheet. However, the
the ideal forming conditions of the sheet part with a com-
forming strategy required a very small layer distance and
plex shape such as sheet part with bidirectional protruding
a longer forming time. Lingam et al. [12] generated the
feature. As to the researches of the DSIF, many scholars
forming toolpaths that were compensated by the deforma-
use the models such as STEP and IGES to verify the theory
tion of the tool head and the sheet caused by the forming
or practice. However, the STL model which is simple in
force based on the prediction of the sheet thickness after its
data format and widely used in the rapid prototyping, re-
thinning using the overlap method [13]. In view of the fact
verse engineering, and other digital geometric industries is
that the DSIF can form the sheet part with the bidirectional
rarely involved in the DSIF. There are no complete solu-
feature without changing the configuration of the device,
tions for the DSIF based on the STL model.
Wang et al. [14] formed the sheet part with the free-form
The main forming components of the DSIF are the two
surface on both sides of the sheet by making use of the C-
forming tool heads, and the main forming parameters for the
two tool heads are the coordinates of the toolpath. The
forming toolpath of the tool heads in the DSIF is very impor-
Feature to Board edge tant to the surface quality and forming accuracy of the sheet
be formed surface
part. Therefore, it is the key problems of the entire forming
scheme to reasonably plan and generate the tool movement
path before the forming process.
In this paper, in order to make up for the problem of the
Vertical forming for the sheet parts with bidirectional protruding fea-
surface tures on both sides of the sheet in the DSIF, which has not
Fig. 2 Sheet parts features been mentioned and solved by the previous researches, a
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 3 Sheet part to be formed: a Upper surface of
z-axis
z_xymax
with board edge surface and b Vertical surface
without board edge surface of ymin
x-axis
Vertial surface
of xmax
a b
DSIF toolpath planning and generating method based on the
STL model for the sheet part with bidirectional protruding
features was proposed by considering the characteristics of
the double-sided extrusion and the switching function of the
main and slave tool heads.
2 Overview
In the DSIF, the forming features are formed under the co-
action of the pressing tool heads and the supporting tool heads,
where the tool head that acts as the extrusion is called the main
pressing tool and the tool head that acts as a support is called the
slave pressing tool. The functions of the two tool heads can be
switched according to the protruding shape of the forming fea-
ture between the function of the extrusion and the support.
In order to make full use of the advantage of the DSIF that
can switch the extrusion and support function freely, and then
to realize the forming of the sheet parts with bidirectional
protruding feature, the STL model was used to generate the
toolpath of the DSIF. The pressing and supporting tasks of the
two tool heads were assigned by considering the protruding
orientation of the features to be formed in the toolpath gener-
ation. The functions of the two tool heads were adjusted con-
tinuously according to the change of the protruding shape of
the forming features, as shown in Fig. 1.
For the purpose, the forming features are classified accord-
ing to the protruding direction and the position of the protrud-
ing features, and the main forming surface and the supporting
surface are determined according to the types of the forming
features, and the tasks of the pressing and supporting tool
heads are distributed. Then, the main and slave tool head
Fig. 4 Non-forming surface
removed: a the first level
connecting point and b enlarged
view
P1
Vertical surface of xmin z-axis
Vertial surface
Vertial surface
y-axis of ymax
Lower surface
of z_xymin x-axis y-axis
location points are generated, and the main and slave tool head
toolpaths are planned according to the forming sequence and
the forming method. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed
method is verified by the numerical simulation and actual
forming experiments.
3 Forming feature recognition
3.1 Forming feature extraction
The sheet part to be formed contains the forming features that
require the forming process and the non-forming features that do
not require the forming process. In order to reduce the amount of
the calculation and generate the forming toolpath quickly, the
forming features need to be extracted from the sheet part before
the forming toolpath is generated. Among the features of the
sheet part to be formed, the non-forming features include the
board edge surface and vertical surface shown in Fig. 2.
The sheet part to be formed can be divided into the sheet
part with board edge surface (Fig. 3a) and the sheet part with-
out board edge surface (Fig. 3b). For the sheet part with board
edge surface, it is necessary to eliminate the triangle facets
determined by the board edge surface and other five planes.
That is, the coordinate system (the coordinate system men-
tioned in the paper is the same as the one shown in Fig. 3a)
as shown in Fig. 3a, the triangular facets are contained in the
four vertical surfaces, the upper and lower two surfaces, where
xmax is the maximum value of x in the model, ymax is the
maximum value of y in the model, xmin is the minimum value
of x in the model, ymin is the minimum value of y in the model,
z_xymax is the maximum value of z determined by the value of
P3-4 P2-4 P1 P2-1 P3-1
P3-3 P2-3 P2-2 P3-2
a b

Feature middle Board edge
plane F2 surface F1
Fig. 5 Coincidence surface
xmax and ymax in the model, and z_xymin is the minimum value
of z determined by the value of xmin and ymin in the model. For
example, when the upper surface is removed, the triangle
facets satisfying the z coordinate values of the three vertices
are all equal to z_xymax are deleted.
It is necessary to remove the vertical surface between the
upper and lower forming surfaces of the sheet part without
board edge surface. When removing the vertical surface be-
tween the upper and lower forming surfaces of the sheet part,
it is possible that the triangular facets that satisfy the condition
that the vertex with the z coordinate z_xymax and the vertex
with the z coordinate z_xymin exist in the three vertices simul-
taneously (culling conditions) may exist in the forming fea-
tures. In order to exclude the impact of the accidental deletion
of the internal characteristics caused by the removal condition,
the triangular facets satisfying the removal conditions should
be extracted first. Next, take the adjacent point in the triangu-
lar mesh as the connecting point P1 (xmax, ymax, z_xymax), as
shown in Fig. 4a, find the triangular facets connected with P1
and use the other two vertices of this triangular facet to search
the next triangle of the implication.
As shown in Fig. 4b, the point P1 is taken as the first-
level connecting point for finding the triangular facet. The
P2-i is taken as the second connecting point of the triangu-
lar facets found by the point P1 (i is the serial number of the
connecting point); the P3-i is taken as the third connecting
points of the triangular facets identified by the P2-i. In this
way, looping through until all the implicated triangular
facets are found out.
Fig. 6 Sheet part type: a
unidirectional single protruding
feature (positive direction), b
unidirectional single protruding
feature (negative direction), c
unidirectional multi-protruding
features, d detached bidirectional
protruding features, and e and f
contained bidirectional protruding
features
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Unidirectional single
convex feature Main and slave
Unilateral
features Unidirectional multi- functions fixed type
convex features
Detached bidirectional
Bilateral convex features Main and slave
features Contained bidirectional functions switching type
convex features
Fig. 7 Feature classification
As shown in Fig. 5, for the sheet part to be formed with
the same plane along the board edge surface, since the
plane F1 and the plane F2 are coincident, the median plane
F2 of the protruding in the middle part contains the non-
forming features whose triangulation facets satisfies the
elimination conditions, that is the z coordinate values of
the three vertices are z_xymax (or the z coordinates of the
vertices are z_xymin).
In order to facilitate the application and implementation
of the partitioning algorithm in the following, when
extracting the non-forming feature surface, the vertices of
the six faces and the triangular facets are extracted by mu-
tual implication relation so as to remove the triangular
facets of the middle boss without affecting the subsequent
toolpath generation process, which are connected to the
point P1 and satisfy the condition of the non-forming fea-
ture (the vertex coordinate of the triangular facets is xmax,
ymax, xmin, ymin, z_xymax, and z_xymin).
3.2 Forming feature classification algorithm
3.2.1 Forming feature classification
The complex sheet part consists of many protruding features,
of which the features protruding in the positive direction of the
Z-axis are called positive protruding features (Fig. 6a) and the
features protruding in the negative direction of the Z-axis are
called negative protruding features (Fig. 6b).
According to the number of the protruding direction, the
forming features can be divided into the single protruding
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 8 Classification algorithm

Begain
flow

Contour cutting of the inner

surface of the sheet part model

The cut line segments are connected in

order to obtain the closed ring of each layer

N Are there rings Y

on both sides of
the sheet?

Unilateral features Bilateral features

Y Whether the The same level N

number of lines of ring is
per layer is 1? included?

N Y

The same level Y

of ring is
included?

N
Unidirectional single Unidirectional multi- Contained bidirectional Detached bidirectional
convex feature convex features convex features convex features

End

feature and the multi-protruding feature. The unidirectional
protruding feature refers to the feature with only one protrud-
ing of the positive or the negative directions along the Z-axis
(Fig. 6a, Fig. 6b, and c), in which the one with only one
protruding feature is called as the unidirectional single pro-
truding (Fig. 6a and b), while the one with multiple protruding
features are called as the unidirectional multi-protruding fea-
tures (Fig. 6c).
The bidirectional protruding feature refers to the feature
that there is a protrusion in both the positive and negative
directions along the Z-axis (Fig. 6d, e, and f), which can be
divided into the detached bidirectional protruding features and
the contained bidirectional protruding features according to
the mutual positional relationship of the protruding features.
The detached bidirectional protruding feature refers to the
feature that the protruding features are mutually separated

Fig. 9 Forming surface Supporting

Upper
surface Upper Main forming
distinction: a unidirectional single surface
surface surface
protruding feature, b
Main forming Lower
unidirectional multi-protruding Lower Supporting surface
surface
features, and c detached surface surface
bidirectional protruding features
a b
Supporting
Upper
surface
Main forming surface
surface
Main forming
surface Lower
Supporting surface
surface
c
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 10 Contained bidirectional Negative Negative

Positive convex
protruding features sheet parts convex convex Upper
Supporting surface
classification: a the negative Main forming surface Main forming
protruding features is located surface surface
outermost, and b the positive
protruding features is located Main forming Lower
surface surface
outermost Supporting Supporting
surface surface

Positive Positive
Negative convex
convex convex
Main forming
Upper
surface
surface
Supporting Supporting
surface Main forming Main forming
surface
surface Supporting surface
surface
Lower
surface
b

(Fig. 6d). The contained bidirectional protruding feature refers
to the feature that the protruding features are mutually
contained (Fig. 6e and f). The sheet parts can be divided into
the unilateral features and the bilateral features according to
the different side of the board on which the forming features
are located. The unilateral feature is that it has a protruding
shaped feature on only one side of the sheet (Fig. 6a, b, c, and
e), while the bilateral features is the one that has the protruding
shaped feature on both sides of the sheet (Fig. 6d and f).
According to the classification method of the forming fea-
tures mentioned above, the forming feature type structure is
shown in Fig. 7. In the forming process of the unidirectional
single protruding feature and the unidirectional multi-
protruding features, the functions of the main and slave
forming tool are fixed and not to be changed. That is, one tool
head always serves as the main pressing tool and the other tool
always serves as the supporting tool. The forming is the main
and slave functions fixed type. During the forming process of
the detached bidirectional protruding features and the
contained bidirectional protruding features, the pressing or
supporting function of the two tools must be switched.
When the protruding direction of the forming feature changes,
the function of the two tools changes correspondingly, and the
forming is the main and slave functions switching type.
3.2.2 Classification algorithm
In this paper, the forming features are classified by cutting the
upper surface of the sheet parts forming features by horizontal
plane. First, the triangular facets whose Z coordinate value is
greater than zero are extracted to obtain the upper surface of the
forming features based on the above feature extraction. The
upper surface of the forming features is cut by the horizontal
plane with a certain layer distance to obtain contour closed ring.
The type of the forming features is determined according to the
number and location of the closed contour ring.
If the closed contour ring is only located above the upper
surface of z_xymax or below the lower surface of z_xymin, and

Fig. 11 Main forming surface Contained bidirectional Unidirectional multi- Unidirectional single Detached bidirectional
determination algorithm flow convex features convex features convex feature convex features

Determination the boundary between the Protruding direction determination

positive protruding feature and the negative
protruding feature
Positive protruding feature Negative protruding feature
Protruding direction determination

Z of the normal Z of the normal

Positive protruding feature Negative protruding feature vector of the
vector of the
triangular >0? N Y triangular <0?

Located outside the Y N

Located inside the
demarcation ring? demarcation ring? Main forming surface Supporting surface
N Y

Y N
Main forming surface Supporting surface
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Upper
surface
Porig,1 Porig,i
Pproj,1
Pporj,i
Fig. 12 Method of the rotating projection
the sheet has only one closed ring on the same contour layer,
then it will be a unidirectional single protruding feature sheet.
If the closed contour ring is only located above the upper
surface of z_xymax or below the lower surface of z_xymin,
and there are multiple closed rings, then it will be unidirec-
tional multi-protruding features sheet.
If the closed contour ring is located above the upper surface
of z_xymax and below the lower surface of z_xymin and there is
no inclusion relationship between the closed rings, then it will
be detached bidirectional protruding features. If more than one
closed ring exists on the same contour layer, and there is an
inclusion relationship between the closed rings, then it is a
contained bidirectional protruding features. When a plurality
of the closed loops exist on the same cutting layer, the sepa-
ration or inclusion relationship between the closed loops can
be judged by whether the point in one loop is inside the other
loop or not. The sheet parts classification algorithm flow is
shown in Fig. 8.
3.3 The main forming surface determination
In the DSIF, the forming surface can be divided into the main
forming surface and the supporting surface. The main forming
surface is the forming surface that is in contact with the main
tool head during the forming process, and the supporting sur-
face is the forming surface that is in contact with the slave tool
head during the forming process. The toolpath of the main and
slave tool heads are generally generated according to the main
forming surfaces and therefore it is needed to extract the main
forming surfaces from the surface of the model.
Fig. 13 Forming feature
extraction: a sheet part model, b
without considering the internal
characteristics, and c considering
the internal characteristics
For the positive protruding feature, the upper surface is the
supporting surface and the lower surface is the main forming
surface. For the negative protruding feature, the upper surface
is the main forming surface and the lower surface is the
supporting surface. For the unidirectional single protruding
feature (Fig. 9a), the unidirectional multi-protruding features
(Fig. 9b) and the detached bidirectional protruding features
(Fig. 9c), first determine the protruding shape of the forming
features, that is, determine whether the positive protruding
feature is or the negative protruding features is. The algorithm
is that if the z values of the three vertex coordinates of the
triangular facets are greater than z_xymax, the forming features
composed of the triangular facets are the positive protruding.
On the contrary, if the z values of the three vertex coordinates
of the triangular facets are less than z_xymin, the forming fea-
tures that consist of these triangles are the negative protruding.
For the positive protruding features, if the z value of the
normal vector of the triangular facets is greater than zero, it
belongs to the main forming surface. Conversely, if the z value
of the normal vector of the triangular facets is less than zero, it
belongs to the supporting surface. For the negative protruding
feature, if the z value of the normal vector of the triangular
facets is less than zero, it belongs to the main forming surface.
On the contrary, if the z value of the normal vector of the
triangular facets is greater than zero, it belongs to the
supporting surface.
In the sheet parts with contained bidirectional protruding
features, since the surface features of the positive and negative
protruding features are connected together, it is necessary to
determine the boundary between the positive protruding fea-
ture and the negative protruding feature first. Then, extract the
positive and negative features of the protruding features ac-
cording to the demarcation method shown in Fig. 10. All the
triangular facets in the positive protruding lower surface that
are located inside the demarcation ring form a positive pro-
truding main forming surface, and all the triangular facets on
the upper surface of the negative protruding that are located
outside the demarcation ring form the main forming of the
negative protruding. That is to say, on the upper surface of
the extraction forming features, the triangular facets whose
normal vector z is greater than zero and located on the outer
surface of the demarcation ring are taken as the main forming
surface of the negative protruding. On the lower surface of the
extraction forming, the triangular facets whose normal vector
z is less than zero and located on the inner surface of the

a b
Fig. 14 Contained bidirectional protruding features: a sheet part model, b extracted forming features, and c closed ring
demarcation ring are taken as the main forming surface of the
positive protruding features.
The sheet parts with contained bidirectional protruding fea-
tures can be subdivided into the negative protruding features
located in the outermost position that contains the positive
protruding features (Fig. 10a) and the positive protruding fea-
tures located in the outermost position that contains the nega-
tive protruding features (Fig. 10b). The main forming surface
determination algorithm flow is shown in Fig. 11.
The algorithm for determining the demarcation ring be-
tween the positive and negative protruding features is illustrat-
ed by taking the sheet part with the negative protruding feature
in the outermost position that contains the positive protruding
feature as an example.
(1) When the lowest part of the negative protruding features
located in the outermost position is on the same horizon-
tal plane, the demarcation ring of the positive and nega-
tive protruding feature, that is, the ring of the negative
protruding feature that is located on the lowest position
can be used as the demarcation ring.
(2) However, when the locations of the lowest part of the
negative protruding feature are not on the same horizon-
tal plane, the rotating projection is used to determine the
demarcation ring.
(3) If the negative protruding feature is in the outermost
position (as shown in Fig. 10a), then the top of the pos-
itive protruding feature is theoretically above the lowest
bottom of the negative protruding feature. The mean val-
ue of the coordinate of the highest protruding point Pproj,1
(as shown in Fig. 12), which is the approximate position
of the highest protrusion of the positive protruding fea-
ture is obtained by cutting the model. At a certain plane
Fig. 15 Unidirectional multi-
protruding features: a sheet part
model, b extracted forming
features, and c closed ring
a b
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
The second characteristic
ring in the same layer
c
located the position (zmax + h, where h is a margin value
defined by the user to make the plane above the highest
position of the model) above the zmax of the upper sur-
face of the model, as shown in Fig. 12. The equidistant
point Porig,i with the distance dcurP_subP and its projection
point Porig,i on the upper surface of the model are gener-
ated along the X-axis by taking the corresponding point
Porig,1 of the highest point Pproj,1 of the positive protrud-
ing as the origin. Record the coordinates of the equidis-
tant point Porig,i, the projection point Pproj,i, and the dis-
tance dop between them.
(4) Compare the obtained distance dop according to
the order of storage before and after. Step (3) is
terminated when the distance d op between the
equidistant point Porig,i and the projection point
Pproj,i decreases compared with the previous step,
and record the coordinate of the equidistant point
Porig,bef of the previous step and the equidistant
point Porig,cur of the current step. The distance
dcurP_subP between the point Porig,bef and the point
P orig,cur is equidistantly spaced by a distance
dcurP_subP/k to refine the projection process so as
to precisely find the position of the projection
point where the distance dop does not increase (k
is user-determined; the smaller the k is, the higher
the accuracy will be).
(5) Rotate the equidistant point axis counterclockwise i*θ
(0 ≤ θ < 2π, 0 ≤ i < 2π/θ), continue to make equidistant
points and projection points, find the distance dop be-
tween them, and refine the searching for the interval that
satisfies the condition (4).
The second characteristic
ring in the same layer
c
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 16 Detached bidirectional
protruding features: a sheet part
model, b extracted forming
features, and c closed ring
(6) Record all the projected points that meet the condi-
tions, sort the projected points after removing the du-
plicated points, and connect them end to end into a
closed points ring. The closed points ring is the de-
marcation ring between the positive and negative pro-
truding features of the contained bidirectional pro-
truding features.
3.4 Case studies
The software system based on the proposed algorithms
was implemented using the C++, VC++, and OpenGL on
the Windows 7 environment. Figure 13 shows the two
extraction results of the forming features that contain the
plane along the edge of the sheet part. Figure 13a shows
the sheet part model, Fig. 13b shows the extraction effect
without considering the internal characteristics, and
Fig. 13c shows the extraction effect considering the inter-
nal characteristics.
The feature extraction and feature recognition algorithm
are verified by taking the unidirectional single protruding
feature, the unidirectional multi-protruding features, the
detached bidirectional protruding features, and the
contained bidirectional protruding features as the example.
The case studies are shown in Figs. 14, 15, 16, and 17.
Figures 14a, 15a, 16a, and 17a show the sheet part model.
Figures 14b, 15b, 16b, and 17b show the obtained forming
characteristics after the separation and extraction opera-
tions have been conducted for the sheet part model.
Figures 14c, 15c, 16c, and 17c are the closed ring by cut-
ting the model with the layer distance of 0.5 mm so as to
recognize the model type. When there is more than one
Fig. 17 Unidirectional single protruding feature: a sheet part model, b extracted forming features, and c closed ring
closed ring in the same layer, the second ring is shown in
different colors (the area circled by the dotted line).
Figure 18 shows an example of the application of the de-
tached bidirectional protruding features partitioning algo-
rithm. The lower surface of the positive protruding is the main
forming surface, and the upper surface of the negative pro-
truding is the main forming surface.
Figure 19 shows an example of the application of the
contained bidirectional protruding features partitioning algo-
rithm. The demarcation ring of the contained bidirectional
protruding features is found through the equidistant points
and the projection points, and the characteristic surface is
partitioned to obtain the main forming surface of the positive
protruding and the negative protruding.
4 Forming toolpath generation
4.1 The main tool head toolpath generation
The incremental forming is a process that extrudes the sheet
point by point and layer by layer, in which the contour lines is
usually taken as the forming toolpath. However, the features
to be formed needs to be further discriminated because of the
bottom of the contained bidirectional protruding features may
not be in the same height plane.
The sheet parts with the bottom in the same height plane
use the contour line toolpath, but for the sheet parts with the
bottom not in the same height plane, the inclined toolpath is
adopted so as to make the different parts of the model meet the
main and slave function switching principle that the tool on
the protruding side work as the supporting tool head. And for
what kind of the model use the inclined toolpath need to be
judge and choose. After obtaining the demarcation ring
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

based on the vector averaging method [18]. Offset distance

Negative protruding
Positive protruding main forming surface
main forming surface
Fig. 18 Detached bidirectional protruding features partition
between the positive protruding feature and the negative pro-
truding feature by using the method of the rotating projection
points mentioned above, all the points on the demarcation ring
are sequentially divided into three point sets. The three aver-
age value points (i.e., p1, p2, and p3) are obtained by averaging
the coordinates of the three point sets. Whether the three av-
erage value points are on the horizontal plane or not is judged
according to the z coordinate values of the three average value
points and the upper and lower deviation range of [d] = 0.01.
If the difference between the z coordinate values of the
three mean points does not exceed [d], all the points are de-
termined to be on the same horizontal plane; otherwise, all the
points are determined on the same inclined plane. If the plane
determined by the three points is the horizontal plane, the
contour line is used. Otherwise, the inclined toolpath is
adopted. The contour line toolpath generation method is that,
the main forming surface is offset to generate the main tool
location surface. The offset is realized using vertex offset
of the main tool is the tool radius R (when the main forming
surface is located on the negative protruding, the main tool
radius is the upper tool radius, that is R = R1; when the main
forming surface is located on the positive protruding, the main
tool radius is the lower tool radius, which means R = R2),
The contour line toolpath of the main tool head can be
generated by sorting the cutter location points CL1 in se-
quence, which are obtained cutting the main tool offset surface
using the horizontal plane according to a certain distance (as
shown in Fig. 22). The inclined toolpath can be generated
using Lingam’s method [8]. That is, first cut the triangular
facets to obtain the main tool head location point CL1 using
the inclined plane, then sort and connect the main tool head
location point CL1 to get the inclined toolpath. Lingam pre-
sented that if the model has two boundary rings, the intersec-
tion of the two boundary rings can be used as the axis of the
rotation of the cutting surface. But, if there is only one bound-
ary ring in the model, the intersection plane between the initial
plane of the sheet and the boundary ring is taken as the rota-
tion axis of the cutting surface. However, the method of de-
termining the rotation axis of a single boundary ring and the
toolpath generation algorithm are not suitable for the model
shown in Fig. 20. As shown in Fig. 20a, when the initial plane
F0 of the sheet is within the Z directional space Zrange where
the model is located, the inclined plane is not possible to cut
the model to obtain a closed toolpath ring (the tool contact

Fig. 19 Contained bidirectional

protruding features partition: a the
same height bottom and b the Isometric Demarcation
point ring
none same height bottom
Projection
point
Negative protruding
main forming surface

Positive protruding
main forming surface

Isometric Demarcation
point ring

Projection
point
Negative protruding
main forming surface

Positive protruding
main forming surface

b
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 20 Toolpath generation
method of the single boundary Fi
Zrange
ring model: a Lingam’s method F0
[8], b the improved method (3D Li
view), and c determination of F1 L0
cutting axis (Front view)
a b
toolpath Li in Fig. 20a is a non-closed toolpath ring obtained
by cutting the model using the plane Fi), which is generated by
the rotation axis L0 determined by the initial plane F0 of the
sheet and the plane F1 of the boundary ring. And the incre-
mental forming process cannot be conducted in the order of
the top-to-bottom or bottom-to-up by using the generated
toolpath. Therefore, this paper improves the toolpath genera-
tion method for the single boundary ring features in the
contained bidirectional protruding features with the bottom
not in the same height plane. As shown in Fig. 20, the rotation
axis L0 that defines the rotational plane is determined by the
plane F0’ that pass through the highest point of the model and
is parallel to the initial plane of the sheet, which replaces the
initial plane F0 of the sheet.
For example, for the contained bidirectional protruding
features with the bottom not in the same height plane model
shown in Fig. 19b, the inclined toolpath for the positively
protruded main forming surface can be generated by the im-
proved method proposed in this paper. As shown in Fig. 21,
the intersection lines between the plane F1 on which the
boundary ring is located and the plane F0’ is taken as the axis
of cutting L0, which passes through the highest point Ptop of
the single boundary ring and is parallel to the XOY plane
(Initial plane of the sheet).
4.2 The slave tool head toolpath generation
The cutter location point CL2 in the toolpath of the slave tool
should be one-to-one correspondence with the main tool at
each moment, and is generated by offsetting the main tool
location point CL1 the distance (R1 + R2 + t) along the direc-
tion of the normal vector at the cutter location point at this
moment, as shown in Fig. 22. R1 and R2 are the radius of the
main and slave tool heads, respectively; t is the corresponding
thickness of the sheet part at the current cutter location point.
F0' Ptop
Main forming
F1
surface
Fig. 21 Intersection surface determination of the single boundary ring
model
F0' Ptop L0
F0' F1
F1 F0 F0
c
The normal vector at cutter location point is calculated
according to ni = n1 × l2 / (l1 + l2) + n2 × l1 / (l1 + l2) [19],
where ni is the normal vector of the cutter location point lo-
cated between the edge endpoints of the triangular facet, n1
and n2 are respectively the normal vectors of the two tool
location point on the edge of the triangular facet, and l1 and
l2 are the distance from the cutter location point to the edge
endpoints of the triangular facet.
In the DSIF, the advantage of the double-sided extrusion is
lost at the later stage of the forming due to the effect of the
sheet thinning, and the DSIF degenerates into a SPIF [20].
That is, the slave tool head cannot provide as a support for
extrusion, only the main tool head is involved in the forming
process of the sheet part. In order to avoid the DSIF to be
degenerated into the SPIF because of the contact loss caused
by the sheet thinning, during the forming process, the distance
between the two tools must be continuously adjusted so that
the main and slave tool heads always contact with the surface
of the sheet. Therefore, the generation of the slave tool head
location point needs to consider the thinning of the sheet.
In this paper, the tool head forming toolpath is generated
based on the STL model by offsetting the sheet thickness t from
the slave tool head location point. The sheet thickness t can be
calculated according to the law t = t0*sin (90°-θ) of the sinusoi-
dal thinning at every moment of the main tool head at the tool
location point, where t0 is the original thickness of the sheet and
θ is the forming angle at the current tool location point.
Offset
surface
CL1
R1
Contour Main forming
surface
toolpath
R2
t
CL2
Fig. 22 Calculation of the slave tool location point
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Toolpath of
Toolpath of
main tool Positive
main tool
Positive Sheet protruding
Sheet protruding

Positive
Toolpath of Toolpath of protruding Negative
Negative main tool
Sheet main tool Sheet protruding
protruding

a b

Toolpath of
Sheet main tool

Main tool Main tool

Positive Negative
protruding protruding
Sheet Toolpath of
main tool

c d
Fig. 23 Forming of the contained bidirectional with the protruding features: a the first scheme, b the second scheme, c the third scheme, and d the
forming toolpath in the same plane

Fig. 24 Forming scheme of the Toolpath of Toolpath of

Sheet main tool main tool
unidirectional multi-protruding Sheet
features: a layers priority
principle and b features priority
principle First negative First negative
Second negative
protruding protruding
protruding Toolpath of
Toolpath of main tool
Sheet main tool Toolpath of
Sheet main tool

Second negative First negative Second negative

protruding protruding protruding

a b

Fig. 25 Forming scheme of the Positive protruding Sheet

detached bidirectional protruding
features: a bottom-up order and b Sheet
Toolpath of Negative protruding
top-down order Toolpath of main tool
main tool
Positive protruding
Toolpath of
Sheet main tool

Negative protruding Sheet Toolpath of

main tool

a b
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 26 Forming toolpath Positive protruding

connection: a interference and b slave toolpath
Negative protruding
feature toolpath connection line
Interference main toolpath
Sheet part

Positive protruding
main toolpath
Feature toolpath Feature toolpath
connection line Negative protruding
connection line
slave toolpath
a b

Fig. 27 Forming toolpath

connection between features

4.3 Toolpath planning and connection
4.3.1 Toolpath planning
In the forming process of the sheet parts with the multi-
protruding features, the forming order and forming toolpath
planning of each forming feature are complex and diverse, and
the various forming toolpath planning schemes need to be
evaluated and selected for the optimal scheme for the toolpath
generation. For the contained bidirectional protruding features
with the bottom in the same height plane, as shown in
Fig. 19a, the forming of the protruding features can be divided
into three forming schemes according to the forming order of
the protruding features. The first forming scheme is as shown
in Fig. 23a; follow the bottom-up sequence, the positive pro-
truding features of the sheet part are formed using the lower
forming tool as the main extrusion tool. Then, follow the top-
down sequence; the negative protruding features of the sheet
part are formed using the upper tool as the main extrusion tool
to complete the forming of the entire sheet part. This forming
method is prone to cause the interference problems and affect
the forming quality and accuracy of the sheet part, because the
initial positions of the two forming processes are located at the
junction of the forming features and the plane of the sheet.
The second forming scheme is similar to the first one, as
shown in Fig. 23b, The difference is that if the positive pro-
truding feature is higher than the initial plane of the sheet, the
positive protruding features that are above the initial plane are
first formed in a bottom-up order, the positive and negative
features under the initial plane are then formed in top-down
order. If the positive protruding feature is below the initial
plane of the sheet, then the positive and negative protruding
features that are below the initial plane are directly formed

Fig. 28 Generation of the main

tool location surface: a contained Positive protruding Main tool Positive protruding
main forming surface Main tool
bidirectional protruding features main forming surface location surface location surface
and b detached bidirectional
protruding
Main tool
location surface
Main tool Negative protruding Negative protruding
location surface main forming surface main forming surface

a b

Fig. 29 Generation of the contour
line toolpath: a contained
bidirectional protruding features
and b detached bidirectional
protruding features
Fig. 30 Generation of the
inclined toolpath: a feature with
two boundary rings and b feature
with single boundary ring
from top to bottom. For the forming of the protruding features
in the lower part of the initial plane of the sheet, when the
same-layer toolpath has the two layer toolpath of the outer
layer λ1 and the inner layer λ2 (where λ is the toolpath se-
quence number), as shown in Fig. 23d, alternatively, the
forming of the outer layer may be carried out by reforming
the inner layer (first λ1 and then λ2) or the preforming inner
layer re-forming outer layer (first λ2 and then λ1). In this
forming mode, the inner and outer layers are alternately
formed in the order of the positive protruding and the negative
protruding; it consumes a long time because of much more
empty trip. Moreover, the positive protruding features are
more likely to be affected by the negative protruding features
and to be sinking, which reduces the profile accuracy of the
formed part.
The third forming scheme, first taking the upper tool
head as the main pressing tool head, forms the negative
protruding features located under the initial plane of the
sheet. As shown in Fig. 23c, the functions of the main and
slave of the upper and lower tool heads are switched after
the forming has been carried to the lowest position, and the
Fig. 31 Toolpath connection
between features: a contained
bidirectional protruding features
and b detached bidirectional
protruding features
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
lower tool head is used as the main extrusion tool to form
the positive protruding features inside the sheet parts.
Compared with the second forming method, this forming
method has less empty trip, the forming process has better
continuity, and the forming time can be shortened. And
compared to the first forming scheme, only once the initial
location of the forming lie at the interface between the
forming features and the initial plane of the sheet, which
is not easy to cause interference problems. For the sheet part
with unidirectional multi-protruding feature shown in
Fig. 24, there are two forming schemes with layer priority
and feature priority. Figure 24a shows the layer priority
scheme in which the first and second negative protruding
features are formed simultaneously, and two features are
alternately formed at the same Z-height. Figure 24b shows
a feature priority scheme, where the second negative pro-
truding feature is formed after the formation of the first
negative protruding feature is completed, or the second
negative protruding feature is formed and then forms the
first negative protruding feature; the forming order of the
two protruding features can be determined according to the
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 32 Simulation progress of the detached bidirectional protruding features: a 10%, b 30%, c 35%, d 60%, e 80%, and f 100%

Fig. 33 Forming experiment: a

sheet clamping, and b horizontal
DSIF machine
Left Right
platen platen

Sheet

a b

user. Similar to the contained bidirectional protruding fea-
tures shown in Fig. 23b, the layer priority forming has a
greater amount of empty trip for the tool lighting up and
falling. The forming time is long and the many times up and
down of the tool have more impact on the sheet, and the
forming quality is relatively poor.
There are bottom-up order and top-down order two proce-
dures for the forming of the sheet parts with detached bidirec-
tional protruding features. The forming of the two protruding
features can likewise be determined by the user; as shown in
Fig. 25, the forming order of the two schemes does not involve
the feature priority problem and the layer priority problem.

Fig. 34 Forming experiment: a

forming process and b formed
sheet part

Fig. 35 Profile measurement
The reason why the forming sequence has an effect on the
forming quality of the sheet part is that the initial plane defor-
mation due to the first feature of the sheet part, and the defor-
mation caused by the first force of the tool on the formed first
feature when the second feature is formed.
Therefore, the choice of the forming scheme for the multi-
protruding features involved in this paper, the feature priority
forming scheme is selected generally. That is, for the forming
of the sheet parts with multi-protruding feature, when the
forming of the one protruding feature is finished completely,
then forming for another protruding feature is started accord-
ing to the sequential order so as to ensure the continuity of the
forming process and avoid interference, at the same time to
reduce the empty trip time of the forming tool.
4.3.2 Toolpath connection
For the formations of sheet part with multi-protruding feature,
the forming toolpath needs to be integrally connected accord-
ing to the selected forming scheme. As shown in Fig. 26a, for
a sheet part with the detached bidirectional protruding fea-
tures, the main tool head toolpath of the negative protruding
feature needs to be connected to the slave tool head toolpath of
the positive protruding feature and should be taken as the
forming toolpath of the upper tool head, while the slave tool
head toolpath of the negative protruding feature needs to be
connected with the main tool head toolpath of the negative
protruding feature and should be taken as the forming toolpath
of the lower tool head. As shown in Fig. 26b, when the
forming toolpath are directly connected, there is overlap be-
tween the sheet and tool moving path, which will cause the
interference problems.
Fig. 36 Comparison of the profile 5 X=Y Coordinate/mm
curves 0
-5 75
Z Coordinate/mm
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
In order to avoid the interference caused by the direct con-
nection between the multi-protruding features, a method of
returning the tool head to a safe height plane after forming
of a single feature is adopted. After a certain feature is formed,
the upper tool head moves up to the safety height plane I, the
lower tool head moves down to the safe height plane II, and
then the next feature is formed. At the same time, the transla-
tion and the downward toolpath are added between the fea-
tures as shown in Fig. 27.
4.4 Case studies
The proposed algorithm has been implemented by using C ++,
VC ++, and OpenGL on the Windows 7 environment. After
partitioning the model by using the partitioning algorithm, the
position relationship between the generated main tool location
surface and its main forming face is shown in Fig. 28.
Figure 28a shows the main tool location surface generated
by the contained bidirectional protruding features shown in
Figs. 14, and 28b shows the main tool location surface gener-
ated by the detached bidirectional protruding features shown
in Fig. 16.
The contours generated by cutting the tool location surface
with a layer distance of 0.5 mm are as shown in Fig. 29.
Figure 29a shows the contours of the contained bidirectional
protruding features and Fig. 29b shows the contours of the
detached bidirectional protruding features.
Figure 30 shows the inclined toolpath generated for the
contained bidirectional protruding features with the non-
contour bottom. Figure 30a shows the offset tool location surface
and its inclined toolpath of the negative protruding main forming
surface with two boundary rings. Figure 30b shows the offset
tool location surface and its inclined toolpath of the positive
protruding main forming surface with a single boundary ring.
According to the toolpath planning scheme described above,
the order of the connection of the forming toolpath from outside
to inside is adopted for the contained bidirectional protruding
features. The connection results are shown in Fig. 31a. For the
detached bidirectional protruding features, the connection order
of the forming toolpath that realizes the forming from the neg-
ative protruding to the positive protruding is adopted. The con-
nection result is shown in Fig. 31b.
Figure 32 shows the forming simulation of the sheet parts
with detached bidirectional protruding features shown in
85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155 165 175 185 195
Design
Experiment
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 37 Deviation of the cross 4
Deviation in Z
direction/mm
section profile in Z direction 3
2 Deviation in Z direction
1
0
75
-1
-2
Fig. 6d. The forming sequence can be determined by the user,
that is, the positive protruding features are formed after the
forming of the negative protruding features have been fin-
ished. The simulation of the six different forming progress
are shown in Fig. 32. Figure 32a, b, and c show the forming
process of the negative protruding features. Figure 32d is the
empty movement of the tool head moving between features.
Figure 32e and f show the forming process of the positive
protruding features.
5 Experiments
In order to further verify the feasibility of the DSIF toolpath,
the actual forming experiment was carried out using the sheet
part with detached bidirectional protruding features as shown
in Fig. 16. In the experiment, the sheet was clamped by the left
and right platen (as shown in Fig. 33a) and the forming exper-
iment was conducted on a horizontal DSIF machine as shown
in Fig. 33b.
The feed rate is 500 mm/min, the diameter of the forming
tool head is 6 mm, and the experimental sheet is 1060 alumi-
num with 0.6 mm thickness. The layer distance of the contour
toolpath in the Z direction is 0.2 mm. Figure 34a shows the
process of the double sides forming. Figure 34b shows the
actual sheet part formed by the double sides forming process.
Figure 35 shows the process of measuring the contour of
the test piece using a CMM. Based on the measured X = Y
section profile data and the X = Y section profile data of the
designed model, the cross-sectional profile curves are plotted
using the Excel software to compare the profile of the design
model and formed sheet part.
Figure 36 shows the comparison of the X = Y section pro-
files between the actual formed sheet part and the designed
model. The curves of the section profile show that the exper-
imental piece contour and the designed contour fit well. The
positive and negative protruding features have the same shape,
indicating that the generated toolpath can be used to form the
sheet parts with bidirectional protruding feature.
The deviation of the section profile in the Z direction is
obtained by comparing the X = Y section profile of the exper-
imental sheet part and the designed model as shown in Fig. 37.
It can be seen from the Z direction deviation diagram of the
cross-sectional profiles that the maximum deviation of the Z
85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155 165 175 185 195
X=Y Coordinate/mm
direction between the experimental part and the designed part
is 3.1953 mm; the maximum deviation is in the area of the
negative protruding feature. In addition to the influence of the
force when the positive protruding feature is formed in this
region, the rebound deformation caused by the unloading is
also a cause of its deviation. Similarly, the positive protruding
feature also has the problem of the unloading rebound defor-
mation. This is consistent with the numerical simulation
results.
The forming experiments show that the generated DSIF
toolpath can be applied to the forming of the sheet parts with
the bidirectional protruding feature and the algorithm pro-
posed in this study has applicability. However, the above ex-
perimental study also shows that the contour accuracy of the
sheet metal part will be affected by the springback force after
unloading. Therefore, based on the proposed algorithm, it is
necessary to further study the corresponding springback com-
pensation to deal with the unloading rebound deformation
caused by the forming of the sheet parts with the bidirectional
protruding feature so as to eliminate the deviation between the
actual formed part and the designed part.
6 Conclusions
In this paper, an automatic toolpath generation algorithm
based on the STL model is proposed for the forming of the
sheet parts with a bidirectional protruding feature. The recog-
nition and extraction of the feature types, the functions switch
of the tool, and toolpath planning have been studied. The
software system has been developed based on the VC++ and
OpenGL that can automatically generate the required DSIF
toolpath for the given sheet part according to the parameter
input. The numerical simulation and actual forming experi-
ments were carried out using the DSIF toolpath generated by
the sheet part model. The finite element analysis and experi-
mental results show that the generated forming toolpath for
the sheet parts with bidirectional protruding features based on
the STL model can form the parts with the desired shape, and
the proposed forming scheme has feasibility. The study results
have significance for the popularization of the DSIF. For fur-
ther researches, it is necessary to further study the springback
compensated toolpath generation for the DISF of the sheet
parts with bidirectional protruding features.

Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial
support from the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province
(No. 2014024011).
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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