Experimental study on single point incremental hole flanging of aluminium 5052 material

The single-point incremental forming process is useful for manufacturing prototypes and customised sheet metal parts. The application of single-point incremental forming to perform hole-flanging operations has been explored by many researchers. The flange can be formed by a single-stage or a multi-stage strategy of single-point incremental forming. A comparative study of both strategies is essential to understand their applicability. In this work, the formability of AA5052-H32 sheet metal has been analysed by finding the Limit Forming Ratio and thickness of the flanges formed with the single-stage and multi-stage strategies. The single-stage strategy reduced the operation time by 105%, whereas the multi-stage strategy increased the formability by 11%. Further, an experimental study has been carried out to understand the effect of process parameters on the flange quality in single-stage single-point incremental hole-flanging. The results show that the step depth is the most effective process parameter and there is a high interaction between the spindle speed and the feed rate.