Incremental forming of free surface with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet at warm temperatures
(Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 121-791, Korea)
Abstract: The formability of AZ31 sheet begins to increase drastically at 150 ℃. The incremental forming technique was thus applied to AZ31 sheet at 150 ℃ to utilize the formability to its fullest capacity at the lowest possible temperature for forming applications. A surface scanning technique was used followed by the tool path generation to incrementally form an egg surface. After thorough examination of various tool paths, the surface was most successfully produced by forming an intermediate shape followed by a series of tool paths. Flexible scale stickers were devised to improve the accuracy in the measurement of grid deformation.
Key words: incremental forming; formability; magnesium sheet; reverse engineering; grid measurement