Low-Carbon Steel Sheet Asymmetric Single-Point Incremental Forming: Analysis and Optimization of the Surface Roughness (TECHNICAL NOTE)

Surface roughness (SR) has an adverse effect on the appearance of low-carbon steel parts, formed in the asymmetric incremental sheet forming (AISF) process, particularly those requiring painting operation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of AISF process parameters on the surface roughness of an asymmetric part formed on low-carbon steel sheets. The parameters are feed rate, tool diameter, vertical step and spindle speed. Taguchi design of experiment (DOE) is used to investigate the process parameters effects and their interactions to achieve the minimum surface roughness. According to the obtained results, the roughness on the surface of low-carbon steel sheets is decreased during the asymmetric single-point incremental forming (ASPIF) due to a decrease in the vertical step and an increase in the tool diameter. In addition, the tool rotational speed and the feed rate have low effects on the surface roughness. The carried out validation test demonstrates that the Taguchi technique can effectively optimize the level of each input factor to ensure the best surface quality.