The effect of thermal spraying on the forming performance of incremental sheet forming

In order to reduce the manufacturing cycle and improve the forming performance of the incremental sheet forming (ISF) process, a hybrid manufacturing process that combines thermal spraying and incremental forming process was firstly proposed. The effects of different thermal spraying parameters on the forming properties and mechanical properties of sheet metal were investigated. Firstly, Fe316L coating was prepared on AA2024-T3 plate by using atmospheric plasma thermal spraying, and then the plate is formed into the target shape with variable angles. In addition, tensile tests were carried out on the plates pretreated by thermal spraying with different parameters. The results showed that the yield strength of the plate decreased up to 70% and the elongation increased by 65% under the appropriate thermal spraying power. In the process of ISF, the axial forming force of sheet metal after thermal spraying decreased obviously and the forming limit increased obviously. In addition, influences of different processing steps (sand blasting and heating) on the forming performance of sheet metal were investigated. It is found that the heating effect in the thermal spraying process has the most obvious effect on the improvement of forming performance, while the sand blasting process has adverse effect. Finally, in order to optimize the thermal spraying area, the influence of thermal spraying at different areas on the forming performance of sheet metal was investigated.