The present invention relates to methods of working sheet metal and an apparatus. Methods include providing a sheet metal workpiece having first and second surfaces opposed to each other and at least one edge, bending the workpiece to form at least a first sidewall portion, the first sidewall portion thereby defining a curved fold region in the sheet metal workpiece adjacent the first sidewall portion. The first anvil tool and a first forming tool are provided for contact with and constraint of the first and second surfaces of the sheet metal workpiece respectively. The forming tool and/or anvil tool are then slid along the curved fold region to cause shear material transfer in the curved fold region to further deform the curved fold region. Methods can allow for formation of components of similar shape as made at present by deep drawing methods, but with less wastage of the starting material.

An incremental sheet forming system and method are configured to form a structure through an incremental sheet forming process. The incremental sheet forming system and method include a forming control unit that compensates for spring back of a structure to be formed through the incremental sheet forming process.

Disclosed are a method and system to form a contoured structure using deep rolling. The method includes using deep rolling to introduce plastic deformation to one or more portions of a work piece to form a convex contour in the work piece. The work piece, and subsequently formed contoured structure, can be metal or composite. The disclosed deep rolling systems and methods form, for example contoured aircraft panels, while also providing fatigue strength improvement and low level of work hardening during the forming process rather than as a post-production surface treatment.

An induction heating system for manufacturing a part including an induction coil and a smart susceptor positioned within an oscillating electromagnetic field from the induction coil. The smart susceptor includes a ferromagnetic material cold sprayed onto a tool. The tool may be a sheet metal component formed to a desired shape by incremental sheet forming. The smart susceptor may be heated up by eddy currents generated in the ferromagnetic material by the oscillating electromagnetic field. The smart susceptor may be designed to have a desired Curie temperature based on the composition of the ferromagnetic material. The smart susceptor is formed into a desired shape by cold spraying ferromagnetic material onto a tool already formed into the desired shape. The smart susceptor may be removed from the tool by thermally shocking the smart susceptor and the tool and may be used to heat a part to be formed.

A method for producing a recess in a workpiece made of flat material using a bending machine is disclosed. The bending machine comprises a first clamping jaw, a movable second clamping jaw configured to clamp, together with the first clamping jaw, the workpiece, a first bending unit arranged on the first clamping jaw having a first bending tool, and a second bending unit arranged on the second clamping jaw having a second bending tool. The method comprises clamping the workpiece with the clamping jaws such that a protruding portion of the workpiece protrudes from the clamping jaws, moving one of the two bending tools into a counteraction position such that it rests against the protruding portion at a distance from the clamping jaws, and extending the other bending tool such that it presses against the workpiece so that a recess is formed in the workpiece.

A method of shot peening according to the present invention includes: placing a jig having an appropriate dimension at one face side of a stamped workpiece; and performing shot peening on another face side of the workpiece in a state where the jig is placed at the one face side of the workpiece, and conforming the workpiece to the jig. At this time, the shot peening may be performed in such a way that residual stresses in the inner side and the outer side of the curved part of the workpiece will become compressive stresses.

Systems and methods for forming a workpiece are disclosed. The system may include a fixture assembly for receiving a workpiece having opposing first and second surfaces, first and second tools, and a vibration source configured to vibrate the first and/or second tool. The first and second tools may be configured to move along first and second predetermined paths of motion as the first and/or second tool is vibrated by the vibration source and may exert force on the first and second surfaces to form the workpiece. The method may include vibrating a tool using a vibration source and moving the vibrating tool and another tool along first and second forming paths to form the workpiece. The vibration source may be an ultrasonic transducer and may vibrate the tool at a frequency of at least 1 kHz.

A method for the individualized adaptation of the shape of components includes providing a basic material for producing the components. Next at least one unifying production method is selected. The components are then produced with a geometrically identical base shape by the unifying production method. Then at least one individualizing production method is selected. Then the shape of the components is adapted to at least two different final shapes by the individualizing production method that is different from the unifying production method. The final shape of each component differs from its basic shape.

A new method of manufacturing a railroad car tank head having 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 system and method for forming a structure with steep walls (walls having an angle greater than 60 with respect to a level plane) through one or more incremental sheet forming operations is provided. The method includes a workpiece with an inner region and an outer region that are separated by a boundary region. The boundary region includes a plurality of openings and a plurality of connecting elements. The openings are cut into the workpiece using a boundary region cutting tool. A forming tool is configured to operate on the inner region after the boundary region cutting operation has been completed. At least one control unit is in communication with the forming tool. The at least one control unit operates the forming tool to form the structure from the inner region.