3D Modeling for Springback Compensation in Sheet Metal Forming

In sheet metal forming, a particular issue is given by the metal deformation and bending after the forming process. This springback phenomenon is caused by the physical characteristics of the material and must be taken into consideration. In order to avoid this deformation, the parts modeled in the design phase (Die and Punch) are modified to obtain the correct final form, on which the springback is compensated. In this thesis are presented some developed software functionalities that, from the original die design and the deformed metal sheet, compute the new design in order to compensate the springback phenomenon. In the first chapter a brief introduction to Sheet Metal Forming and springback is given, in order to motivate why it is important to develop a software capable to compute the modified forming components. A description of the main concepts of 3D modeling is then presented, followed by an overview of Parasolid, a geometric library used by Inspire Studio for many of its 3D modeling functionalities. After that the details of the software developed as an Inspire Studio plug-in are reported, with an overview of the different requirements fulfilled and the issues that have been overcome. Finally, in the last chapters, the results obtained by the developed project are described together with the possible future integrations and developments.