Folding pre-shaped blanks

Abstract. Deep drawing creates top-hat-shaped components. Some geometries are difficult to form using deep drawing but can be achieved by folding a top hat into another shape. Previous literature has explained the rules governing the folding of sheets but has not applied these rules to the folding of square top-hat-shaped components. This paper derives the equations governing the geometry of a quarter-top-hat and categorises the family of shapes which can be folded from it by changing the orientation of its creases. Any geometry within this family can be described by a point in a three-dimensional configuration space; this paper identifies the feasible region within this space and shows visually how the geometry of the quarter-top-hat changes as it is folded along three distinct trajectories in the feasible region.