Research on toolpath optimization of robot-assisted incremental flanging

Abstract Robot-assisted incremental flanging (RAIF), a cost-effective and promising forming technology for producing large-size open-edge flanged parts in multi-variety and small batches, is expected to be widely used in aerospace, automotive and other technological industries. As a multi-pass incremental forming technique, the forming quality of the flanged parts is dependent on the movement of the roller controlled by the robot directly. The toolpath of a certain pass is determined by the rotation velocity (to adjust the flanging angle), the revolution velocity (to complete the flanging process of the whole blank sheet) and the matching relationship between two velocities (synchronously or asynchronously). In this paper, the process principle of RAIF technology is illustrated by using the example of shrink flanging firstly, then the effects of asynchronous motion and synchronous motion on the forming quality of a 60° flanged part made of the 5A06 aluminum alloy are compared while the rotation and revolution velocity of the roller are set to 1°/s and 1.8°/s, respectively. Results show that the forming quality is improved significantly that the maximum height of edge waves is decreased from 2.1 mm to 0.19 mm when the roller is set to rotate and revolve synchronously. Based on the above comparison results, the rotation velocity is set as 1°/s, 1.33°/s, 2°/s and 4°/s respectively to further investigate the effect of different toolpaths on the forming quality under synchronous motion conditions. It can be found that the maximum stress gradually increases from 575.4 MPa to 621.6 MPa when the rotation velocity decreases from 4°/s to 1°/s.