Warpage or torsion in a longitudinal direction is suppressed when an elongated curved component is manufactured by press forming. A method for manufacturing a pressed component includes a first step of press forming a metal sheet in a desired component shape using a first die, and a second step of press forming a formed product using a second die after the first step. In the second step, a cross section of a bent part and a vertical wall part are controlled to be opened depending on warpage at longitudinal end portions of the component by elastic recovery due to release from the first die, thereby suppressing the warpage.

A method of manufacturing a railroad car tank head includes the steps of providing a circular blank of steel plate material, cold-forming the circular blank to form an intermediate ellipsoidal dish, cold-forming a peripheral flange region of the intermediate ellipsoidal dish to form a flanged ellipsoidal dish, and heat treating the flanged ellipsoidal dish. The heat treatment may be either a thermal stress relieving heat treatment or a normalizing heat treatment. The two cold-forming steps may be carried out at room temperature. The present invention provides a method of making a railroad car tank head that is more efficient than prior methods, avoids the challenges of hot-forming and single-stage cold-forming, is easily adaptable to different tank head diameters using the same forming equipment, and yields a railroad car tank head that meets safety standards.

A method and apparatus for processing fuselage sections. A first fuselage section is held in a cradle system. A current shape of the first fuselage section in the cradle system is measured. Forces to change the current shape of the first fuselage section to a desired shape for connecting the first fuselage section to a second fuselage section are identified. The forces identified are applied using a system to change the current shape of the first fuselage section towards the desired shape.

A method of forming a workpiece having an initial heat treatment and made of a naturally aging alloy to a final shape using an incremental sheet forming (ISF) machine having a coordinate system and a tool path corresponding to the final shape of the workpiece is disclosed. The method comprises positioning the workpiece in the ISF machine; performing an initial forming operation on the workpiece using the ISF machine; performing a final heat treatment on the workpiece; repositioning the workpiece in the ISF machine; and, with the workpiece in a final workpiece orientation in the ISF machine and the tool path of the ISF machine in a final tool-path orientation in the ISF machine, performing a final forming operation on the workpiece using the ISF machine to achieve the final shape of the workpiece. Intermediate heat treatments and intermediate forming operations in the ISF machine may also be performed.

The invention relates to a device for processing a workpiece, said device including the following features: a punch on one side of the workpiece, a die on the opposite side of the workpiece, and a conductive electric heating system for generating an electric current that flows through the workpiece starting from a component situated on one side of the workpiece outside of the punch to a component situated on the opposite side of the workpiece outside of the die.

A method and apparatus for processing a sheet of material. The sheet of material may be secured relative to a tool in an incremental sheet metal forming machine. The sheet of material may be incrementally shaped into a shape of a part using a stylus. The stylus may comprise a rod having a first end and a second end, a substantially curved surface on the first end, and a texture on at least a portion of the substantially curved surface on the first end. The texture may be configured to channel a lubricant onto the first end.

A method and apparatus for processing fuselage sections. A first fuselage section is held in a cradle system. A current shape of the first fuselage section in the cradle system is measured. Forces to change the current shape of the first fuselage section to a desired shape for connecting the first fuselage section to a second fuselage section are identified. The forces identified are applied using a system to change the current shape of the first fuselage section towards the desired shape.

An apparatus for forming a metal workpiece having a first surface is described herein. The apparatus includes a trough containing a liquid. The apparatus also includes a support for positioning the metal workpiece in an impact-receiving position. In the impact-receiving position, the first surface is submerged in the liquid. The apparatus includes a driven member for applying multiple impacts to the first surface of the metal workpiece while the metal workpiece is in the impact-receiving position.

Provided are methods and systems of orienting parts for incremental sheet forming and, in some examples, forming the parts in these orientations. A forming orientation may be identified by simulating forming operations of the same part in multiple different orientations and identifying the thinnest portions of the part for each of the orientations. The orientation with the maximum thickness of these identified portions is selected as a forming orientation. The forming simulation may be based on the Sine law by comparing the actual and projected areas of different surface elements of the shape to be formed. As such, a part formed in the forming orientation will have the greatest minimum thickness among all other possible orientations.

A computer-implemented method of generating an addendum surface for use in forming a sheet metal part by using an Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) manufacturing process, wherein the method includes: providing a Computer Aided Design (CAD) geometry of the sheet metal part to be formed; and generating an addendum surface that surrounds and extends the CAD geometry; wherein the addendum surface has a constant slope everywhere and has no regions of self-intersection. The addendum surface can be used to manufacture a male and/or a female underform tool for use in the ISF process, such as Two-Point Incremental Forming (TPIF). The addendum surface has a user-specified constant design wall angle, .sub.c, which can be selected to prevent tearing of sheet metal parts during ISF due to excessive thinning at large wall angles (i.e., wall angles greater than 60).