ASSIGNMENT NO 6

SHEARING PROCESS IN SHEET METAL

Introduction:
The most common cutting processes are performed by applying a shearing
force, and are therefore sometimes referred to as shearing processes. When a great enough
shearing force is applied, the shear stress in the material will exceed the ultimate shear
strength and the material will fail and separate at the cut location. This shearing force is applied
by two tools, one above and one below the sheet. Whether these tools are a punch and die or
upper and lower blades, the tool above the sheet delivers a quick downward blow to the sheet
metal that rests over the lower tool. A small clearance is present between the edges of the upper
and lower tools, which facilitates the fracture of the material. The size of this clearance is
typically 2-10% of the material thickness and depends upon several factors, such as the specific
shearing process, material, and sheet thickness.

Shearing:
Several cutting processes exist that utilize shearing force to cut sheet metal.
However, the term "shearing" by itself refers to a specific cutting process that produces straight
line cuts to separate a piece of sheet metal. Most commonly, shearing is used to cut a sheet
parallel to an existing edge which is held square, but angled cuts can be made as well. For this
reason, shearing is primarily used to cut sheet stock into smaller sizes in preparation for other
processes.
 Different shearing processes:
Some of the shearing processes of sheet metal are as follows.

 Blanking & Fine Blanking Operation

 Piercing Operation
 Perforating Operation

Fine blanking and Blanking:

Fine blanking is a high precision metal forming process used in
the automotive, heavy duty, electronics, medical, lawn and garden, and general industries. In fine
blanking, the strip is held securely by the blank holder (guide-plate with V ring) which forces the
metal sheet to stay completely flat while the part is being cut. The end result is that the produced
part has right angles and very tight dimensional tolerances, excellent flatness, and with very little
variation from part-to-part throughout long production runs. Fine blanking eliminates machining
and reduces secondary operations.

Blanking is the process of cutting out a predefined shape from

the sheet metal the part that is punched out is known as the blank and is the required product, the
metal left behind is waste. The main difference between blanking and fine blanking is that in the
simple blanking one die applies pressure on sheet the edges, the cross section everything is very
precise. It is also less efficient and more costly process than fine blanking.
Piercing:
Piercing is a shearing process where a punch and die are used to create a hole in sheet
metal or a plate. The process and machinery are usually the same as that used in blanking, except
that the piece being punched out is scrap in the piercing process. There are many specialized
types of piercing: lancing, perforating, notching, nibbling, shaving, cutoff, and dinking. The
amount of clearance between a punch and die for piercing is governed by the thickness and
strength of the work-piece material being pierced. The punch-die clearance determines the load
or pressure experienced at the cutting edge of the tool, commonly known as point pressure.
Excessive point pressure can lead to accelerated wear and ultimately failure.

There are several different piercing processes, some of which include the following:
 Lancing
 Trimming
 Notching
 Perforating

Perforating:
Perforated metal is a form of sheet metal which has been punched or
stamped with a machine to create a pattern of holes. It is also known as perforated sheet,
perforated plate, or perforated screen and is commonly made from stainless steel, cold rolled
steel, aluminum and more.

Perforated metal was first developed around 150 years ago for the
mining industry as a means of filtering coal. Initially, the perforation process was inefficient;
involving laborers manually punching individual holes into a metal sheet. Over time, the process
has improved through the use of machinery utilizing punching needles arranged in specific
patterns.
Applications of perforating:
 Perforated metal sheets are excellent at providing rooms with air flow and shade, often
used as sun protection screens in rooms that require ventilation. Although they appear to
be a design element, their permeable nature allows the free movement of air, resulting in
substantial energy savings on heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
 Perforated metal sheets are often used for noise reduction walls and roof systems. In
noisy environments, they can limit the adverse effects of noise on workers’ health.
 Used for drain dryers, wine vats, fish farms, sorting machines, fruit & vegetable presses
and baking trays.

Limitations of shearing process:

 Shearing is less than ideal with harder metals. For example, using the process for cutting
tungsten is simply a bad idea. Because tungsten is extremely hard and often brittle, it can
cause delamination or fracturing of the tungsten part, as well as significant wear on the
tool itself.
 Although the metal shearing process can be used with various diameters and is often cost-
effective for high-volume operations, shearing is not ideal for lengths under 0.125”
(3.175 mm).
 In addition, metal shearing cannot be considered burr-free cutting. That is because the
force of the shearing action itself often creates burrs and end deformation. As a result,
shearing may not be the best choice for applications where a clean end finish is required.
 The amount of deformation that occurs with the metal shearing doesn’t just depend on the
force of the blades hitting the workpiece. It also depends on the clearance area, or the
separation between the blades. The clearance is usually anywhere from 5% to 40% of the
total thickness of the metal; again, that also varies with the kind of metal being sheared.
  For larger diameters with large clearance, there may also be heavy burring if the parts
twist or are not securely clamped in place during shearing.
 For cutting of fine tubing, the shearing process doesn’t easily allow a mandrel to be put in
place. This results in an unsupported cutoff that can cause the tube to be crushed

Advantages of shearing process

 Shearing performs straight-line cuts without forming chips or burning or melting the
material. This allows the process to work well with most softer metals, such as
aluminum, brass, bronze, and mild (low carbon) steel.
 The metal shearing process can be used with virtually any diameter part and is especially
cost-effective for high-output operations producing thousands of pieces per hour. In metal
shearing machines, the blades can be mounted at an angle to reduce the amount of
shearing force required to produce the cutoff.
 Perhaps the biggest advantage of shearing is that it produces minimal or no kerf, with
virtually no loss of material. For an application such as shearing a rod, the typical
tolerance is ±0.005 (0.127 mm).