NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE INCREMENTAL FORMING PROCESS FOR KNEE IMPLANTS

Summary: The paper presents a comparison study based on the simulation by the finite element method (using the Ls-Dyna software) on three different incremental sheet metal forming process alternatives for medical implants used for the partial resurfacing of the femoral condylar surface of the knee. The paper also studies the influence of the material thickness and the punch diameters about the stress and strain distribution, the thinning of the material, the force variation and the springback of the material.