Method and system for incremental sheet forming of tailored blanks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016288189-A1
Application number	US-201514678092-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 3, 2015
Priority date	Apr 3, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of making a sheet metal component from a tailored blank includes altering an initial blank formed from a first material to form the tailored blank by at least one of (i) coupling additional material to a portion of the first material, and (ii) removing the first material from a portion of the initial blank. The method also includes forming the sheet metal component from the tailored blank by an incremental sheet forming process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of making a sheet metal component from a tailored blank, said method comprising:
altering an initial blank formed from a first material to form the tailored blank by at least one of (i) coupling additional material to a portion of the first material, and (ii) removing the first material from a portion of the initial blank; and forming the sheet metal component from the tailored blank by an incremental sheet forming process.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet metal component has a thickness defined between a first surface and a second surface of the sheet metal component, said forming the sheet metal component comprises forming the sheet metal component such that the thickness varies locally at different regions of the sheet metal component.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet metal component has a stiffness, said forming the sheet metal component comprises forming the sheet metal component such that the stiffness varies locally at different regions of the sheet metal component.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said altering the initial blank comprises removing a portion of the first material from at least one first region of the tailored blank.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the sheet metal component has a thickness defined between a first surface and a second surface of the sheet metal component, said removing the portion of the first material from the at least one first region of the tailored blank comprises locally decreasing the thickness of at least one first region of the sheet metal component corresponding to the at least one first region of the tailored blank.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one first region of the sheet metal component is adjacent a portion of the sheet metal component that has a large slope.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein said removing the portion of the first material from the at least one first region of the tailored blank is performed while the tailored blank is coupled to a system that is used to perform the incremental sheet forming process.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said altering the initial blank comprises coupling a cladding material to the first material in at least one second region of the tailored blank.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the sheet metal component has a thickness defined between a first surface and a second surface of the sheet metal component, said coupling the cladding material to the first material in the at least one second region of the tailored blank comprises locally increasing the thickness of at least one second region of the sheet metal component corresponding to the at least one second region of the tailored blank.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising uncoupling at least a portion of the cladding material from the second region of the sheet metal component after at least a portion of the incremental sheet forming process is completed.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said uncoupling at least a portion of the cladding material from the second region of the sheet metal component is performed while the tailored blank is coupled to a system that is used to perform the incremental sheet forming process.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the cladding material is formed from a material that is other than substantially identical to first material.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said altering the initial blank comprises coupling at least one stiffening member to the first material in at least one third region of the tailored blank.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said coupling the at least one stiffening member to the first material in the at least one third region of the tailored blank comprises locally increasing a stiffness of at least one third region of the sheet metal component corresponding to the at least one third region of the tailored blank.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising selecting at least one of a number, an orientation, a cross-sectional shape, and a thickness of the at least one stiffening member to inhibit a springback characteristic of the sheet metal component.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one stiffening member is formed from a material that is other than substantially identical to first material.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said altering the initial blank comprises:
removing the first material from at least one fourth region of the tailored blank; and coupling a fourth material to at least a portion of the first material abutting the at least one fourth region of the tailored blank.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said coupling the fourth material to at least a portion of the first material abutting the at least one fourth region of the tailored blank comprises butt-joining the fourth material to the at least a portion of the first material.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the initial blank formed from the first material has a thickness, said coupling the fourth material to at least a portion of the first material abutting the at least one fourth region of the tailored blank comprises coupling the fourth material having an initial thickness prior to the incremental sheet forming process that is substantially identical to the thickness of the initial blank.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said coupling the fourth material to at least a portion of the first material abutting the at least one fourth region of the tailored blank comprises locally altering at least one material property of at least one fourth region of the sheet metal component corresponding to the at least one fourth region of the tailored blank.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said forming the sheet metal component from the tailored blank by the incremental sheet forming process further comprises preventing deformation of the tailored blank at at least one predetermined location.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said forming the sheet metal component from the tailored blank by the incremental sheet forming process further comprises applying thermal energy to a deformation zone on the tailored blank.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein said applying thermal energy to the deformation zone comprises softening the tailored blank to facilitate deformation of the tailored blank.

24 . The method of claim 22 , wherein said applying thermal energy to the deformation zone comprises annealing the deformation zone after the tailored blank has been deformed in the deformation zone.

25 . The method of claim 22 , wherein said applying thermal energy to the deformation zone comprises using at least one of a resistive heating source, a hot gas source, a radiative heat source, a continuous wave laser source, a pulsed laser source, an electrical current source, and an ultrasonic generator.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises a coating on an outer surface thereof.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the coating comprises at least one of a metallic coating, an oxidized compound formed from the first material, an anti-corrosive coating, a dielectric coating, a conductivity-enhancing coating, a friction optimization coating, a wear-reduction coating, a reflective coating, an anti-reflective coating, an absorptive coating, a reactive coating, a color coating, and an aesthetic coating.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Belk John Huntley
• Prakash Om

Classifications

• B21D31/005 Primary

  Incremental shaping or bending, e.g. stepwise moving a shaping tool along the surface of the workpiece (B21D22/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B21D39/026

  Reinforcing the connection by locally deforming · CPC title

• B21D35/006

  Blanks having varying thickness, e.g. tailored blanks · CPC title

• B21D37/16

  Heating or cooling · CPC title