Through scale material flow investigation in novel incremental bulk forming process

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Innovative incremental bulk forming (IBF) process dedicated to form integral elements for the aerospace industry is presented in the paper. Particular attention is put on analysis of advantages and disadvantages of this process, as well as on detailed evaluation of material flow characteristics across different length scales. Thus, a multi scale numerical model of the IBF process was established based on the isotropic hardening law at the macro scale and digital material representation concept connected with the crystal plasticity theory at the micro scale. Numerical results are also supported by a series of experimental investigations realized at the prototype of the IBF press.