• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.206-213
• /
• 2011

A flexible die, which is composed of a number of punches with adjusted heights to form a three-dimensional curved surface, is a crucial part of a flexible forming technology. In this study, the punch and control system of the flexible die were designed. The flexible die is divided into three modules, namely, punch, control and joint, and the corresponding modules were developed. The punch module materializes a three-dimensional forming surface by the control module, which is composed of an AC servo motor set and a linear guide. The joint module is necessary for the sequential motion between the servo motor set and the punch module. A sequential motion algorithm for the AC servo motor set, that uses the data of the punch relative heights, was also proposed. Finally, a flexible stretch forming test was carried out using the presently designed flexible die.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.243-249
• /
• 2013

The multi-point forming (MPF) process for three-dimensional curved sheet metal has been developed as an alternative to the conventional die forming process since MPF allows the manufacturing of various shapes using one die set and reduce the cost of production. However, the MPF process cannot provide high quality products yet due to defects occurring in the sheet such as dimples and wrinkles. It can also lead to economic loss because of long tool setup time and additional machining required outside of the sheet formed area. In this study, a new sheet metal forming method, called flexible roll forming (FRF), is proposed to solve the problems of existing processes for three-dimensional curved sheet metal. This progressive process utilizes adjusting rods, as well as upper and lower flexible rollers as forming tools. In contrast with the existing processes, FRF can reduce the additional production costs because of the possible blank size for the part longitudinal direction, which is unrestricted. In this research, methods and procedures of the flexible roll forming technology are described. Numerical forming simulations of representative three-dimensional curved sheet products are also carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of this technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.152-155
• /
• 2005

A method of three-dimensional curved surface generation was studied for multi-point dieless forming (MPDF) in the shipbuilding industry. Three-dimensional coordinates of punch elements were obtained from objective surfaces using a proprietary CAD program. MPDF surfaces were generated by adjusting the height of punch elements in accordance with the coordinates. Some problems, such as collision of punch elements and contact between plates and punch bodies, were anticipated from the analysis of the results. A twisted surface was formed successfully by MPDF in a laboratory scale, which suggests possibility of application of the technology to the shipbuilding industry.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.161-168
• /
• 2016

Sheet metals are often required to be formed into three dimensional curved shapes for use as skin structures. As a result various sheet metal forming methods, such as press die forming, stretch forming, and line heating have been used over the years in industrial production lines. Although they are extensively used in industry, these methods are not suitable for small quantity batch productions. Studies have been conducted to improve or replace these methods with plausible flexible forming technologies. As a part of these studies, we developed a new and more efficient forming device named flexibly-reconfigurable roll forming (FRRF). The current study presents the process development and experimental verification for the applicability of this device. To improve the efficiency of the FRRF apparatus, several hardware components were invented and a suitable operating program was developed using MFC of visual C++. The ways to make the FRRF apparatus fully functional are also described. Sheet metal was formed into three dimensional shapes using the FRRF apparatus and the final products are presented as evidence for the applicability of the developed device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2002.05a
• /
• pp.58-61
• /
• 2002

A new concept of dieless sheet forming technology is proposed in this study to overcome the drawback of conventional dieless forming technology. For this purpose, dual points contact of the conventional punch system, which is a primary cause of surface defects, is replaced to single point contact using technology combined with fluid forming. It is expected that the advanced system may lead to easy displacement control of multi-punch elements, reducing surface defects, and increasing decision and forming limits. The reduced number of punch elements also saves the cost of the equipment. In addition, the new technology can be utilized for deep drawing as well as two- or three-dimensional curved surface forming, and thereby become multi-functional and multi-purpose differently from the conventional technology.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.91-93
• /
• 2005

Forming sheet metal by laser-induced thermal stresses (laser forming) has been extensively studied, and the research has focused on two-dimensional geometries using a multi-pass straight line scan. Recently there came out some useful studies or three-dimensional laser forming which is applied to doubly curved shapes. The task of 3D laser forming sheet metal is to determine a set of process parameters such as laser scanning paths, laser power and scanning speed that will make a given shape. New method for laser forming of a doubly curved surface by using geometrical information was proposed and verified by experiments. This method shows good performance in the sense of calculation time and accuracy compared to the inherent strain method.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.38-43
• /
• 2002

Die-less forming is a cold forming process which is to bend thick flat plates into compound curved plates using two asymmetric rollers. This forming method has several advantages compared with line heating which is widely used to fabricate compound curved pieces in shipyards. The die-less forming, however, has scarcely been studied. Even the deformation mechanism in this forming process has not been understood clearly. So, in this paper, the deformation characteristics of die-less forming is investigated analytically and numerically. for the analytic investigation, slab method based on equilibrium equation is applied. And the mechanism of curvature generation is derived for the asymmetry in roller applied. And three dimensional numerical analyses are performed with realistic modeling of interactions between the rollers and work-piece using finite element program, ABAQUS. It is shown that curvature generation is mainly due to the difference of normal positive strain distribution between the top and bottom surface of the work-piece. And a convex-type curved plate is formed if the center region of the work-piece is rolled with asymmetric rollers of which the lower is larger than the upper in diameter.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.21 no.7
• /
• pp.432-440
• /
• 2012

In this article, the design of the flexible forming process considering die shape compensation using an iterative over-bending method based on numerical simulation was conducted. In this method, the springback shape obtained from the final step of the first forming simulation is compared with the desired objective shape, and a shape error is calculated as a vector norm with three-dimensional coordinates. The error vector is inversely added to the objective surface to compensate both the upper and lower flexible die configurations. The flexible die shapes are recalculated and the punch arrays are adjusted according to the over-bent forming surface. These iterative procedures are repeated until the shape error variation converges to a small value. In addition, experimental verification was conducted using a 2000-kN flexible forming apparatus for thick plates. Finally, the configuration of the prototype obtained from the experiment was compared with the numerical simulation results, which had springback compensation. It is confirmed that the proposed method for compensating for the forming error could be used in the design of flexible forming of thick-curved plates.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.341-347
• /
• 2017

Flexibly-reconfigurable roll forming (FRRF) is a novel sheet metal forming technology conducive to produce multi-curvature surfaces by controlling strain distribution along longitudinal direction. Reconfigurable rollers could be arranged to implement a kind of punch die set. By utilizing these reconfigurable rollers, desired curved surface can be formed. In FRRF process, three-dimensional surface is formed from two-dimensional curve. Thus, it is difficult to predict the forming result. In this study, a regression analysis was suggested to construct a predictive model for a longitudinal curvature of FRRF process. To facilitate investigation, input parameters affecting the longitudinal curvature of FRRF were determined as maximum compression value, curvature radius in the transverse direction, and initial blank width. Three-factor three-level full factorial experimental design was utilized and 27 experiments using FRRF apparatus were performed to obtain sample data of the regression model. Regression analysis was carried out using experimental results as sample data. The model used for regression analysis was a quadratic nonlinear regression model. Determination factor and root mean square root error were calculated to confirm the conformity of this model. Through goodness of fit test, this regression predictive model was verified.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.15-18
• /
• 2011

Up to now the incomplete texture have been manufactured through the 2D surface treatment like simple painting process or printing process. But in order to obtain 3D texture like natural object, micro scales' 3D surface structure on the surface of plastic part must be formed. In this study plastic smart phone case with 3D texture was produced by developing the surface duplication technology of natural object used electro-forming technology, by developing the press forming technology converted plane stamper to curved surface stamper and by developing the injection mold and molding technology which have been installed the curved surface stamper.