General overview of sheet incremental forming

Purpose: The aim of this research paper is to give a general overview on sheet incremental forming as an emerging field in small and batch production.Design/methodology/approach: First the historical and literature background of sheet incremental forming will be given, and then some theoretical and practical issues of the incremental forming processes will be described including the research work done by the author at the University of Miskolc. This research is part of an international EUREKA project with the main focus on formability and accuracy in incremental sheet forming.Findings: In this research paper some important findings on the critical wall angle which is a characteristic formability feature in incremental sheet forming will be discussed. New specimen geometry was elaborated to reduce the great amount of experimental work to determine the formability limits. The main conclusions are that in incremental forming the formability is significantly higher compared to conventional sheet forming. The process is very flexible and economic due to the low tool costs.Research limitations/implications: One of the main target areas of further research work is the determination of technological window for sheet incremental forming of various materials and to introduce this novel process into industrial practice.Practical implications: In practical applications besides the economy of the process due to its very low tool expenses, the flexibility should be mentioned which is very important in small batch production and particularly in rapid prototyping.Originality/value: The results achieved within this research work are equally important both from the point of view of theoretical and practical aspects of sheet incremental forming.