According to the principle of single-point incremental forming

experiment and numerical simulation were employed to study the deformation features

thickness distribution and springback during incremental thread grooving on thin-wall tubes

where Al6061 tubes with outer diameter of 38mm and thickness of 1mm were used. The wall thickness variation was discussed by using Glock’s hinge model

and the effects of groove depth

spacing and feed rate on springback were clarified. Results show that incremental tube grooving on tubular parts can meet the demand of flexible manufacturing

and the errors of groove spacing between the experiment and expectation are within 6%. With the groove depth increasing

wall thinning intensifies

but due to the hinge effect the bottom wall thickness may increase. The springback of tube wall increases with a deeper groove and a larger single step size of tool head

the springback decreases about 40.2% when the single step size is 0.25mm compared with 1.5mm. In addition

the materials near the grooves may deform repeatedly and the local structural stiffness will improve under a small groove spacing (Δl)

which can inhibit springback

the springback decreases about 38.5% when Δl is 10mm compared with 50mm.