Production of arc sheet elements by stepped bending method

The article considers the issues of obtaining thin-walled parts with arc-shaped elements for small devices and units in small-scale or single production using the principles of prototyping, which has recently been widely used to test and evaluate ideas at the earliest stage of development, and in some cases, to verify the functioning of a prototype device. Taking into account the requirements for the parts quality, the technology of stepped bending is chosen, which uses a set of consecutive V -shaped bends to obtain a given curvature of the billet. The basic principle of the multi-stage forming process is to replace the bending arc with a polygon, each side of which is a rectilinear section of sheet material of a given length, while bending the sheet metal using a small-radius punch. The accuracy of forming an arc segment using polylines depends on their number. The greater the number of bending steps, the smoother the profile is formed, but the bending process becomes more laborious and technically complex. Therefore, the technical and economic indicators of the process depend on correct choice of the number of steps. With this bending method, it is difficult to avoid a prismatic structure on the billet surface; in this case, the traces of step bends will be more noticeable on the inside of the bent sheet material compared to the outside. Using stepped bending technology, various metal parts of the prototype of the universal plasma low-temperature sterilizer of Plaster Med TeCo series were manufactured, which allows fast, safe and effective sterilization of a wide range of medical equipment. As an example, the use of stepped bending technology of a stainless steel sheet billet for the production of a thin-walled bumper for a sterilizer door is considered.