Surface roughness analysis of medical grade titanium sheets formed by single point incremental forming

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) process has proven benefits in terms of formability, flexibility, and low cost as compared to conventional sheet forming, although it has some issues such as dimensional accuracy and low quality of surface finish for some materials. The SPIF is considered as a potential method of producing customised medical parts such as craniofacial implants using a titanium sheet. This investigation aims to analyse the overall surface roughness of grade 1 pure titanium along the wall of the hyperbolic truncated cone formed by the SPIF process with different forming parameters (i.e. forming tool diameter, step size, and feed rate). Focus variation microscopy was used to measure the surface roughness experimentally along the wall of the truncated cone. Abaqus/Explicit was used to predict the equivalent stress and equivalent plastic strain along the wall of the truncated cone part from the top to the fractured region to evaluate the relationship between the stress, strain, and roughness distribution. It was found that the surface roughness changes with the deformed part height and rough surface could be produced in the region of high equivalent stress and low equivalent plastic strain. Such a surface roughness and equivalent stress and plastic strain correlation has a clear implication to the design and the surface quality of sheet parts made by SPIF.

Automated summary

The study analyzed the overall surface roughness of a hyperbolic truncated cone formed by the SPIF process, finding that the surface roughness changes with the deformed part height and rough surface could be produced in regions of high stress and low plastic strain.