Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) In The Manufacturing Of Titanium Based Plate Implants In The Bio-Medical Sector

Titanium, recognized by its high strength-to-weight ratio, is a material previously disregarded as a result of its high cost and difficult formability. Recent projects undertake the usage and manufacturing of titanium as a replacement material in certain components in the aerospace and mining sectors. The biomedical industry has also shown great favor towards titanium as a result of its corrosive resistance and great biocompatibility with the human body. Incremental sheet forming (ISF) is a forming method capable of forming intricate, asymmetrical components as a result of highly localized deformations. The ISF process forms the component using stretching and bending while maintaining the material’s crystal structure. The process can be performed using any 3-axis (and higher) Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) machine, making it highly available and cost effective to the manufacturing industry. This paper investigates the forming of bio-medical titanium plate implants for minimal invasive surgical procedures. It proposes a customizable process chain capability for the production of patient-specific bio-medical implants using the incremental forming technology.