Finite Element Analysis of a Single Point Incremental Forming of Foot Supports

Abstract

In this study, the incremental sheet-forming (ISF) process of foot supportswas simulated using finite-element analysis (FEA). The study employedABAQUS/Explicit finite-element software to study the characteristics ofmanufacturing such complicated shapes. Several simulation runs havebeen conducted to ensure the feasibility of the ISF approaches proposedin this work, whereas the numerical results have been confirmed byexperimental tests. An error analysis of the thickness distribution wasmade to compare the theoretical, measured, and simulation results.The results revealed that themaximum thinning occurred at the wallof the foot support product. The comparison showed that the variationin simulated and experimental depth along the profile of the productbase didn't exceed 8%. Furthermore, the vertical reaction force on theforming tool increases with forming depth until a specific maximumvalue and remains approximately constant until the onset of sheetcracking, then starts to decrease. Also, strain increased gradually andreached its maximum value at a depth of 25 mm. Energy consumption indeep drawing shows a reduction of 2.5 times that consumed in the ISFprocess for the same final depth.