Chapter 16

SHEET METALWORKING
Sections: 16.1, 16.2, 16.4, 16.5
1. Cutting Operations
2. Bending Operations
3. Other Sheet Metal
Forming Operations
4. Dies and Presses for
Sheet Metal Processes
 Sheet Metal Forming Processes
The workpiece, stock, or blank may be in the shape of a plate, or sheet.
Workpiece thickness is less than 6mm
Thick Sheets are available in flat shape
Thin sheets are available in coiled form
Sheets are produced by Flat Rolling process
 Sheet Metal Forming
 Change the shape of an existing solid body through the application of forces.
 Decrease in sheet thickness is generally avoided as it could lead to necking and
failure.
 Any thickness change is due to stretching of the sheet under tensile stresses
(Poisson’s effect)
 The forces can be tensile, combined tensile and compressive, or shear in nature.
 Forming of sheet metal is generally carried out under
 Biaxial Stretching
 Bending
 Shearing
 Compressive stresses cause BUCKLING, FOLDING or WRINKLING in sheet
metal.
Applications:
Metal desk, Car bodies, Aircraft panels, Missile cones
Beverages Cans, Kitchen Utensil, Casing of Kitchen appliances
 Factors influencing sheet-metal forming

1. Elongation
2. Yield-point elongation
3. Anisotropy
4. Grain size
5. Residual stresses
6. Springback
7. Wrinkling
8. Coated sheet
 Advantages of Sheet Metal Parts

 High strength
 Good dimensional accuracy
 Good surface finish
 Relatively low cost
 Economical mass production for large
quantities
 Sheet Metalworking Terminology

 Punch-and-die - tooling to perform cutting,

bending, and drawing

 Stamping press - machine tool that performs

most sheet metal operations

 Stampings – sheet metal products

 Basic Types of Sheet Metal Processes

1. Cutting
 Shearing to separate large sheets
 Blanking to cut part perimeters out of sheet metal
 Punching to make holes in sheet metal
2. Bending
 Straining sheet around a straight axis
3. Drawing
 Forming of sheet into convex or concave shapes
Section: 16.1
Sheet Metal Cutting
 Cutting Operations
Cutting sheet metal by subjecting a narrow region of it to shear stresses imposed by two
cutting edges.
The phenomenon can be well understood by considering straight edge shearing

1. The blades begin to apply 3. Blades begin to penetrate either side.

pressure, the workpiece starts
to undergo elastic
deformation.
2. As pressure increases the
workpiece undergoes plastic
deformation.
Work hardening occurs in the centre.
4. Fracture lines originating from the
point of each blade meet in the centre
of the workpiece causing separation
before the blades have fully
penetrated.
 Cutting Operations

 The sheared edges of the sheet have characteristic features as in Figure below.
 At the top of the cut surface is a region called the rollover. This corresponds to
the depression made by the punch in the work prior to cutting. It is where initial
plastic deformation occurred in the work.
 Just below the rollover is a relatively smooth region called the burnish. This
results from penetration of the punch into the work before fracture began.
 Beneath the burnish is the fractured zone, a relatively rough surface of the cut
edge where continued downward movement of the punch caused fracture of the
metal.
 Finally, at the bottom of the edge is a burr, a sharp corner on the edge caused by
elongation of the metal during final separation of the two pieces.
 SHEARING, BLANKING, AND PUNCHING

 Shearing is a sheet-metal cutting operation along a straight line

between two cutting edges.
 Shearing is typically used to cut large sheets into smaller sections
for subsequent pressworking operations.
 It is performed on a machine called a power shears, or squaring
shears.
 The upper blade of the power shears is often inclined, to reduce
the required cutting force.
 SHEARING, BLANKING, AND PUNCHING

 Blanking involves cutting of the sheet

metal along a closed outline in a single
step to separate the piece from the
surrounding stock.
 The part that is cut out is the desired
product in the operation and is called the
blank.
 Punching is similar to
blanking except that it
produces a hole, and the
separated piece is scrap,
called the slug.
 The remaining stock is the
desired part.
SHEARING, BLANKING, AND PUNCHING

Clearance effect:
 The clearance in the die allows the
slug to fall clear.
 As clearance increases, the material
tends to be pulled into the die, rather
than being sheared.
 CLEARANCE IN SHEET METAL CUTTING

 The clearance c in a shearing operation is the

distance between the punch and die.
 Typical clearances in conventional
pressworking range between 4% and 8% of the
sheet-metal thickness t.

Recommended clearance is calculated by:

c = Act
where c = clearance; Ac = allowance; and t = stock thickness
Allowance Ac is determined according to type of metal
 CLEARANCE IN SHEET METAL CUTTING
 Clearance applied to blanking and hole
punching to determine the proper punch
and die sizes.
 Punch and die sizes for a round blank of
diameter Db are determined as

 Punch and die sizes for a round hole of

diameter Dh are determined as

 In order for the slug or blank to drop

through the die, the die opening must
have an angular clearance of 0.25 to
1.5 on each side.
 CUTTING FORCES
SHEARING with Straight edge

Cutting force F in sheet metalworking can be determined by

F  ( S )(t )( L)

 where S = shear strength of the sheet metal, MPa; t = stock thickness, mm, and L =
length of the cut edge, mm.
 In blanking, punching, slotting, and similar operations, L is the perimeter length of
the blank or hole being cut.
 The minor effect of clearance in determining the value of L can be neglected.
 If shear strength is unknown, an alternative way of estimating the cutting force is
to use the tensile strength:

F  0.7(UTS )(t )( L)
 PROBLEM

c = Act

F  (S )(t )(L)
 OTHER SHEET-METAL-CUTTING OPERATIONS

Cutoff: a shearing operation

Parting: Shearing the sheet into two or more
pieces
Perforating: Punching a number of holes
Nibbling: like perforating but with overlapped
holes to perform blanking.
Notching: Removing pieces or various
shapes from the edges.
Seminotching: removes a portion of metal
from the interior of the sheet
Lancing: Leaving a tab on the sheet without
removing any material
 OTHER SHEET-METAL-CUTTING OPERATIONS

Slitting: Shearing with circular blades

Slotting : is the term sometimes used for a

punching operation that cuts out an elongated or
rectangular hole
Trimming: a cutting operation performed on a
formed part to remove excess metal and establish
size
Shaving: a shearing operation performed with very
small clearance to obtain accurate dimensions and
cut edges that are smooth and straight
 Fine blanking

 To produce very smooth and square edges.

 Stringer lock the sheet tightly to avoid its
pulling in the die.
 The clearance is 1% of the sheet thickness (8%
in normal shearing)
 Triple action (as shown by arrows) hydraulic
press is used for the operation

Schematic illustration of the setup for fine blanking

 Section: 16.2
Bending Operations
 Bending of Flat Sheet and Plate
The plastic deformation of a sheet metal along a straight line with little or no change in
surface area.

Bending is used to form the functional geometries such as

edges, flanges, curls, seams and corrugation,.

Bending imparts the stiffness: Flat strip vs bent strip

 Bending Terminology
During Bending:

Outer surface stretches → Tension

Inner surface contracts → Compression

Neutral Plane → No deformation

Bending terminology:
 Bend radius is measured to the inner surface
 The length of the bend is the width of the
sheet t
 Bend angle is measured with respect to initial
configuration.
 Bend allowance is the length of the neutral
axis in the bend area.
 Types of Sheet Metal Bending

 V-bending - performed with a V-shaped die

 Edge bending - performed with a wiping die

V-Bending Edge Bending

 (1) Before bending, (2) After bending
 (1) Before bending, (2) after bending
 Application notes:
 Application notes:
 High production
 Low production  Pressure pad required
 Performed on a press brake  Dies are more complicated and costly
 V-dies are simple and inexpensive
 Bend Allowance Formula

Ab

α
Ab = 2π ( R + K bat )
360

where Ab = bend allowance;  = bend angle; R= bend radius; t = stock

thickness; and Kba is factor to estimate stretching
 If R < 2t, Kba = 0.33
 If R  2t, Kba = 0.50
 Problem


Ab  2 ( R  K ba t )
360
 Springback

 Increase in included angle of bent part relative to included angle of forming

tool after tool is removed
 Reason for springback:
 When bending pressure is removed, elastic energy remains in bent
part, causing it to recover partially toward its original shape

b
Springback results in a decrease in bend angle and an increase in bend radius: (1)
during bending, work is forced to take radius Rt and angle b' of the bending tool, (2)
after punch is removed, work springs back to R and ‘
 Springback

Compensation for springback can be accomplished by several methods. Two

common methods are overbending and bottoming.

In overbending, the punch angle and radius are fabricated slightly smaller
than the specified angle on the final part so that the sheet metal springs back
to the desired value.

Bottoming involves squeezing the part at the end of the stroke, thus
plastically deforming it in the bend region.
 Bending Force

 Maximum bending force estimated as follows:

Kbf ( TS )wt 2
F
D

where F = bending force; TS = tensile strength of sheet metal; w = part

width in direction of bend axis; and t = stock thickness, D= die opening
dimension. For V-bending, Kbf = 1.33; for edge bending, Kbf = 0.33
 Problem

Kbf (TS )wt 2

F
D
Common Bending Operations: Press-Brake Forming
Hemming

Seaming
 Curling (Bead Forming)
Also called Curling

The purpose of beading is to increase the stiffness of the part

Example: Beading at the coffee cup

(a) Bead forming with a single die. (b)-(d) Bead forming with two dies in a press brake.
 Flanging
The purpose of flanging is to increase the stiffness

appearance or ease of assembly

(a) Straight flanging, (b) stretch flanging, and(c) shrink flanging

 Miscellaneous Bending Operations

In air bending, there

is no need to change
any equipment or dies
to obtain different
bending angles
because the bend
angles are determinate
by punch stroke
 Tube bending

Methods of bending tubes. Using internal mandrels, or filling tubes with particulate
materials such as sand, prevents the tubes from collapsing during bending.
 Section: 16.5
Other Sheet Metal Forming on Presses

 Other sheet metal forming operations performed on conventional

presses can be classified as
 Operations performed with metal tooling
 Operations performed with flexible rubber tooling
 Ironing

 Achieves thinning and elongation of wall in a drawn cup: (1)

start of process; (2) during process
 Coining

Coining is a bulk deformation operation.

It is frequently used in sheet-metal work to form indentations and raised
sections in the part.
 Embossing
 Creates indentations in sheet, such as raised (or indented) lettering
or strengthening ribs: (a) Punch and die configuration during
pressing; (b) finished part with embossed ribs
 Lancing and Twisting
 Lancing is a combined cutting and bending or cutting and forming
operation performed in one step to partially separate the metal fromthe
sheet.
 Among other applications, lancing is used to make air vents for heating and
air conditioning systems in buildings.

Twisting subjects the sheet metal to a

torsion loading rather than a bending load,
thus causing a twist in the sheet over its
length.
 Guerin Process

 The Guerin process uses a thick rubber pad (or other flexible material) to form
sheet metal over a positive form block
 Low tooling cost
 Form block can be made of wood, plastic, or other materials that are easy to
shape
 The same rubber pad can be used with different form blocks
 Process attractive in small quantity production

(1) Before and (2) after

 Hydroforming Process
Hydroforming is similar to the Guerin process; the difference is
that it substitutes a rubber diaphragm filled with hydraulic fluid in
place of the thick rubber pad, as illustrated in Figure
 Section: 16.4
Dies and presses for Sheet Metal Processes

 Most pressworking operations are performed with conventional

punch-and-die tooling
 Custom-designed for the particular part
 The term stamping die is sometimes used for high production dies
 Punch and Die Components

 Components of a punch and die for a blanking operation

 Punch and Die Components

Components of a punch and die for a blanking operation

 The punch and die perform the cutting operation is attached to the upper and
lower portions of the die set, respectively called the punch holder (or upper
shoe) and die holder (lower shoe).
 The die set also includes guide pins and bushings to ensure proper alignment
between the punch and die during the stamping operation.
 The die holder is attached to the base of the press, and the punch holder is
attached to the ram.
 Actuation of the ram accomplishes the press working operation.
 In addition to these components, a die used for blanking or hole-punching
must include a means of preventing the sheet metal from sticking to the punch
when it is retracted upward after the operation.
 The device in the die that strips the sheet metal from the punch is called a
stripper. It is often a simple plate attached to the die.
 A device is required to stop the sheet metal as it advances through the die
between press cycles. That device is called a stop.
 Compound Die
A compound die performs two operations at a single station, such as blanking and
punching, or blanking and drawing.
A combination die is less common; it performs two operations at two different
stations in the die.

(a) Before and (b) After blanking a common washer in a compound die.
Note the separate movements of the die (for blanking) and the punch (for
punching the hole in the washer).
 Progressive Die
Several operations on the same strip may be performed in one stroke with a progressive
die in one station  higher productivity, expensive dies

Schematic illustration of producing a washer in a

progressive die.
 Stamping Press

Components of a typical mechanical drive stamping press

 Types of Stamping Press Frame
 Gap frame
 Configuration of the letter C and often referred to as a C-frame
 Straight-sided frame
 Box-like construction for higher tonnage

Gap frame press for sheet metalworking (photo courtesy of

Press brake (photo courtesy of BCN Technology Services) Capacity = 1350 kN (150 tons)
Strippit, Inc.)
 CNC Turret Press Parts

Collection of sheet
metal parts produced
on a turret press,
showing variety of
hole shapes possible
(photo courtesy of
Strippit Inc.)
 Power and Drive Systems
 Hydraulic presses - use a large piston and cylinder to drive the ram
 Longer ram stroke than mechanical types
 Suited to deep drawing
 Slower than mechanical drives
 Mechanical presses – convert rotation of motor to linear motion of ram
 High forces at bottom of stroke
 Suited to blanking and punching

Types of drives for sheet-metal presses: (a) eccentric, (b) crankshaft, and (c) knuckle joint.