Study of Incremental Forming Process of Polycarbonate Sheets

This article presents a study of single point incremental sheet forming of polycarbonate sheets. Due to its reduced costs, short time process preparation, high flexibility and promising part accuracy, this manufacturing technology caught the attentions of research and companies from different industrial fields. Polycarbonate is a versatile material with good machinability and properties like high durability, stiffness and high impact-resistance recommends these materials for the manufacturing of different exterior components of automotive. These parts are formed of complex shape cavities and must present a good surface appearance and resistance. The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the capabilities and phenomena involved for single point incremental forming technology applied for generating specific geometries on polycarbonates sheet. The paper analyzes various process strategies by using different CAD/CAM tools with the aim to achieve increased geometrical accuracy.