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Blanking and piercing theory, applications and recent experimental results

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2014 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 60 012065

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

Blanking and piercing theory, applications and recent

experimental results

Adnan l O Zaid
Industrial Engineering Department, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. Blanking and piercing are manufacturing processes by which certain geometrical
shapes are sheared off a sheet metal. If the sheared off part is the one required, the processes
referred to as blanking and if the remaining part in the sheet is the one required, the process is
referred to as piercing. In this paper, the theory and practice of these processes are reviewed
and discussed The main parameters affecting these processes are presented and discussed.
These include: the radial clearance percentage, punch and die geometrical parameters, for
example punch and die profile radii. The abovementioned parameters on the force and energy
required to effect blanking together with their effect on the quality of the products are also
presented and discussed. Recent experimental results together with photomacrographs and
photomicrographs are also included and discussed. Finally, the effect of punch and die wear on
the quality of the blanks is alsogiven and discussed.

1. Introduction
Blanking and piercing are manufacturing processes by which engineering or industrial parts of certain
geometrical shapes are sheared off sheet materials such that the produced parts do not need further or
subsequent machining unless very high quality is required. If the sheared off part is the object the
process is referred to as blanking and if the reining part is the required part the process is referred to
as piercing. The literature on these processes is voluminous and goes back to the forties. Most of the
work has been directed towards improving the quality of the product and the effect of punch speed on
the quality of the produced blanks. They found that blanks produced at punch speed of 3m/s were of
better quality than those produced at conventional speeds [1,2] They carried out experiments on cast
iron, mild steel, brass, copper, zinc, aluminum and lead to investigate the effect of clearance, tool
shear and the ratio of punch diameter, d, to thickness, t, in blanking circular discs. They found that as
the ratio d/t increases the maximum blanking force per unit sheared area decreases and that the
maximum blanking force is greatest at no clearance. They also concluded that similar influence of the
d/t ratio on the energy required to effect blanking existed. The d/t ratio has been specifically studied
by Maeda and Temura,[3],for mild steel, soft copper and soft aluminum. They found that for values of
d/t >5 the maxmum blanking force per unit sheared area is almost independent of the ratio whereas for
d/t ≤5 the blanking force is highly dependent on the d/t ratio. Following Zener and Hollomen findings,
interest in the dynamic blanking and piercing has been stimulated in late sixties. An extensive amount
of information on the comparison between dynamic and quasi-static blanking of ferrous and non-
ferrous materials, regarding the quality of the produced blanks,the maximum blanking force and
energy required to effect blanking, both in the cold and hot conditions, together with the effect of

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

percentage radial clearance had been published in refs. [3-13]. In general it is concluded that
improvement in the quality of the blank has been achieved in high speed blanking particularly for
ferrous materials, and they are always higher than those of slow speed. However, the energy
requirement was less for non-ferrous ones. As the quality of the produced parts is of prime
importance, examination of the available literature reveals that most of the published work was
directed towards studying the effect of the percentage radial clearance, strain rate and temperature on
the blanking force and energy required to effect blanking aiming to improve the blank quality and tool
(punch and die) lives. Little work is published on the effect of geometrical parameters of punch and
die on the blank quality and tool life. Koura and Zaid [14] investigated the effect of out of roundness
of the punch and die in determining the quality of blanks. Kazzutake Komori [15] investigated the
blanking operation using the node operation method, giving attention to the effect of various kinds of
ductile fraction criterion on crack initiation and propagation during the blanking process. He reported
that the methods gave good agreement with the autographic record (punch force-punch displacement
curve) as calculated by the suggested work method agrees fairly with the one obtained experimentally
[15]. Thipprakmas reported that fine blanking method for improving the wear resistance method of
sprocket parts. The sprocket is a profile wheel with teeth. Its periphery is widely used in the drive
system which makes it subjected to wear. This requires that the sprocket should posses high strength
and good wear resistance. The traditional method in manufacturing the sprocket is the hobbing
process followed by heat treatment to increase its strength, hardness and wear resistance. Recently,
the fine blacking process has seen increase in use for manufacturing the sprocket with the advantages
of improving strength and better surface quality which in twin will improve the wear resistance,
furthermore, the reduction of the process operations leading to saving of the production time and cost;
as compared to its traditional manufacturing process by hobbing [16].He has also investigated the fine
blanking process for manufacturing the sprocket regarding the improvements in its strength and wear
resistance using the metallurgical examination of the fine blanked sprocket and found that the
improvement in its hardness and wear resistance is attributed to the grain elongation in the plastically
deformed zone as supported by the photomicrographs in this region. It is therefore, anticipated that
using fine blanking fore producing the sprocket may select low carbon steel instead of the medium
carbon in its production cost [16].

1.1 Accuracy of blanks

Although the blanking and piercing produces products which do not require subsequent machining,
however in predict the products suffer small parentages of geometrical errors e.g., dishing, doming
and edge taper as indicated and magnified for clarity purposes in Figure1. Also indicated on the
figure1 the ideal blank without errors by the dotted line.

Figure1. Sectioned hatched blank showing the defects together

with a projection of an ideal dotted blank

1.2 Main Parameters Affecting Blanking and Piercing

The main parameters affecting the blanking and piercing processes are summarized under four main
elements namely;
1.2.1 Parameters related to the workpiece material

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

1.2.2 Parameters to the punch and die

1.2.3 Parameters related to the process.
1.2.4 Parameters related to the machines used for providing the force required to effect the
process these are summarized in table 1.

Table 1. Paremeters Affecting Blanking and Piercing

Parameters related to Dimensions, Geometrical shape, Physical properties Mechanical
workpiece properties
Parameters related to Radial clearance %, c/t o , punch and die profile radius, rp and rd, punch
the punch and die and die diameters, Dp, Dd., surface roughness, out of roundness.
Parameters related to Strain rate, Working temperature (cold, warm or hot)
the process
Parameters related to Presses (hydraulic, mechanical, electrical)
the machine Hammers (falling using hydraulic, high energy rate petroforge, dynaic)

2. Materials and experimental procedures

2.1 Materials
The specimens used for the blanking process were strips of sheet 50 mm wide and 2 mm thick, made
of 0.84% carbon steel,Y8A, of the chemical composition shown in table 2. The punches and dies were
all made of die steel X12M of the chemical composition shown in table 3.The die diameter was
25.001 mm and the group of punches wer calculated and manufactured to provide radial clearance
percentages defined as, the radial clearance between the punch and die,(c) over sheet thickness,(to)
i.e.(c//to) % to cover a range from 0.12% to 17.6 %.. All punches and dies were heat treated by
quenchening in oil from 1040 C and tempered at 300 C to attain a Rockwell hardness RC54. All
punches and dies diameters were measured using the universal measuring microscope to accuracy of
0.5 micron.

Table 2. Chemical Composition of Workpiece Material Y8A

Element C% Cr% Mn% Si%
Weight percentage 0.75-0.84 < 0.15 0.15-0.30 0.15-0.3

Table 3. Chmical Composition of Punches and Dies, Steel X12M

Element C% Mo% Cr% V% Si%
Weight 1.45-1.65 0.4-0.6 11.0-12.5 0.15-0.30 0.15-0.35
percentage

2.2 Experimental procedures

All the blanking tests were carried out using the designed and manufactured apparatus shown In Figure 2.

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

Figure 2. Blanking apparatus

The tests were carried out on a universal testing machine of 500KN capacity at a cross head speed of
5mm/min in two steps: the first step involved the variation of the punch profile radius, keeping the die
profile sharp until blanking is completed and the second step involved the variation of the die profile
radius keeping the punch profile sharp. The punch and die profile radii were measured using the
profile measuring machine at a magnification of 30. the maximum blanking force was determined
directly from the autographic record and the energy required to effect blanking is determined from the
area under the autographic record, punch load-punch displacement curve, Figure 3a using a
planimeter. The accuracy of the blanks was determined by measuring the amount of dishing, doming
and edge taper on the sectioned and mounted blanks using a profile projector type PT300 at a
magnification of X10. Finally , to study the mechanism of deformation and the metallurgical aspects
of the process, the blanking tests were interrupted before, at and after the maximum blanking force
was reached, at points a, b and c of Figure 3b. the partially and completely blanked specimens are
then sectioned along their diameters, mounted in Bakelite, ground, polished with 1 micron diamond
past and etched in 1% natal solution for 5 seconds, metallurgically examined for crack formation and
photographed. Hardness and microhardness Vickers survey were carried out at the shear zone. The
total number of performed tests were hundred and sixty.

(a) (b)

Figure 3. Punch displacement

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

3. Results and Discussions

3.1 Effect of radial clearance percentage
3.1.1 Effect on force
In all tests, the maximum blanking force is approximately constant at all values of radial clearance
percentages, when the punch and die profile radii are kept sharp, Figure 4. The slight variations are
due to small variations in the sheet thickness from the rolling process. This is due to the fact that the
blanking force = the shear stress, T, x sheared periphery x sheared thickness. As it is obvious, all
these parameters are not affected by the radial clearance percentages.

3.1.2 Effect on blanking energy

The blanking energy consumed to affect mechanical separation of the blank consists of four portions
one the energy dissipated in friction between the punch and the penetrated part of the sheet plus
energy dissipated in friction between the bottom part of the blank and the die and the main consumed
in shearing off the blank from the sheet and finally the energy consumed in forming the dishing and
doming. Examination of Figure 5, indicates an increase in energy due to the high friction between the
punch and die within the clearance region being high at the beginning of the process forming the
dishing. As the punch penetrates certain distance in the sheet during the punch travel this consumed
energy is reduced in the clearance zone reaching its minimum value at the bottom of the curves shown
in Fig.4, then after that the total blanking energy starts to increase because the amount of dishing and
doming increase to their maximum at the end of the mechanical separation of the blank. The other
portions of energy, namely the energy consumed in shearing off the blank from the sheet is constant.
This is similar in all the curves. This agrees with the previous findings of other researchers, [4-8].
This is expected as the periphery and the thickness and the shear stress and the punch and die profile
radii are all constants in the group of tests. This is of vital importance as it was found that the
produced blanks at the optimum value of the radial clearance percentage has the best blanks quality i.e
least dishing, doming and edge taper in addition it saves energy.

Figure4. Variation of maximum blanking force with Figure5. Variation of the blanking energy
the radial clearance percentage at sharp punch and with radial clearance percentages at
die.Also shown the theoretical value of force,in dotted different values of punch`profile radius,
line and square ended die.

3.2 Metallurgical examination

Microstrcutural examination of the partially blanked specimens ( a total of 160 specimens) either with
radiused punch or radiused die at different values of percentage radial clearance, first below the point
of maximum force, at and beyond the maximum force revealed that the crack formation is dependent
on all the aforementioned parameters in the following manner: The photomicrograph of Figs.6(a)

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

and(b) indicate that at zero punch and die profile radii, the shear lines starts to form in the clearance
zone before the maximum blanking force is reached. After it is reached, cracks started at the square
ends of the punch and die and propagate until they meet and the blank is mechanically separated i.e.
there is no shear stresses holding the blank to the parent sheet. Later, the blank is pushed through the
die opening against the friction between punch and sheet, blank and sheet and blank and die opening.

Figure 6(a). Photomicrograph of the Figure 6(b). Photomicrograph of

shear zone before maximum force is the shear zone after maximum force
reached is reached

As the radial clearance percentages is increased keeping a square ended punch and die results in
widening the shear zone and reducing the work hardening in the regions contiguous to the punch and
die corners as observed from the microhardness measurements taken in this zone. This is clearly
shown in Tables 4 and 5 at and beyond the maximum force. It can be seen from these tables that The
hardness at the tip of the crack is found to be 328 HV and 303 HV near the corner of the die. No such
cracks occurred at the point of maximum force (at 60% penetration of the sheet thickness), the
metallurgical examination revealed that, for all values of percentage radial clearance two cracks
occurred: one near the corner of the punch and the second near the corner of the die However the
crack near the corner of the punch is longer. This suggests that crack has first occurred near the corner
of the punch following the points of maximum hardness until the hardness falls to the value below
that near the corner of the die. The crack then stops and second crack develops near the corner of the
die and propagates towards the first one. Pera report,[17] shows that in the punching operation cracks
occur in the region of maximum hardness gradient close to the corner of the punch and the die. In
these tests it was found that the hardness of the material is less at the die edge than at the punch edge
for all values of radial clearance percentages.
Radiusing either the punch or the die profile resulted in a decrease in both the level of hardness
near the modified tool and depth of hardening; it also caused an increase in the width of the shear
zone near the edge of the modified tool. The microhardness measurements indicated that hardness is
less near the edge of the modified tool and that the hardness decreases as the profile radius increase.
No appreciable change in the microhardness of the material at the corner of the square ended tool was
noticed beyond the maximum force, table 3 on the other hand change in the order of the
microhardness was noticed in the specimen material adjacent to both ends of the modified and non-
modified tool at the maximum force. An example is given in Table 2. An interesting results is that the
crack always initiated at the corner of the square ended tool, Figs. 6(a) and 6(b), and propagated
towards the modified tool until the material is no longer able to carry the applied load, then shearing
of the blank occurs. This can be explained using the plain strain deformation model for blanking
suggested by Noble and Oxley [18] in which they used a simple stress analysis model to show that the
crack formation can be related to the change of the shear flow stress across the shear zone. The
greater the shear stress gradient the will be the chance of forming a crack. Thus cracking would be
most expected in the regions where the workhardening is high, i.e. in the region adjacent to the square

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

ended tool, and least expected in the regions where the workhardening is low, i.e. in the region
adjacent to the modified tool. This agrees with the experimental results obtained in this work.

Table 4. Microhardness Vickers survey at the Maximum Blanking Force

Microhardness (HV160)
Blanking conditions (kp/mm2)
rp rd c/t o % Punch end Die end
(mm) (mm)
0 0 18.2 295 247
0 0.93 18.2 280 238
0 1.5 18.2 272 220
0 2 18.2 260 215

Figure 7. Effect of punch profile radius Figure 8. Effect of die profile radius
on blanking force, amount of dishing on blanking energy,amount of dishing,
and amount of doming:a), c),and e) doming and taper,b),d),and e)respectively
respectively.

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

Tabble 5. Microhardness Vickers survey beyond the point of maximum blanking force
Blanking conditions Microhardness (HV160)
(kp/mm2)

rp rd c/t o % Punch end Die end

(mm) (mm)

0 0 18.2 295 295

0 0.93 18.2 295 265
0 1.5 18.2 290 240
0 2 18.2 288 228

Figures 7 show the effect of punch profile radius onblanking force and the accuracy of the produced
blanks, from which it can be seen that increasing the punch profile radius results in deteriorating of
the blanks quality.Similarly, Figure 8 indicates that increase of die profile radius radius also resulted
in deterioration of blanks quality i.e.increase of the amounts of dishing, doming, and edge taper.

3.3 Effect of the wear and surface roughness on blanking and piercing
As it was found that the radial clearance percentage between punch and die is the most important
parameters in blanking and piercing in determining the accuracy of the blank, therefore, wear of
blanking and piercing tools will cause the optimum radial clearance percentageto change, therefore,
wear should be considered in the repair and maintenance of their tools. Similarly, the wear causes the
surface roughness of the punches and dies which will have to a lesser degree, the same effect as the
change in the radial clearance percentage. Little work on the effect of the wear of tools in these
processes is published therefore, this area is still open for research,[19].This lack of research may be
attributed to the complexity of the process which still not fully understood despite the amount of
theoretical and experimental research which was work carried out on these processes since mid
forties till now. Analytical modeling, and finite element analysis have received much attention in
recent years, [19,20]. Review of these current analyses and models are reviewed and discussed in
reference [21}. A more detailed study concerning the mechanism of deformation and crack
propagation is given by Noble and Oxley showed that the cracks occur in the region of maximum
hardness i.e. where the metal has been subjected to the greatest amount of strain hardening, namely at
the punch and die edges [17]. PERA report using a plain strain deformation model for blanking
showed that crack formation can be related to the change of the shear flow stress a cross the shear
zone, the greater the shear stress gradient the greater the chance for crack formation [18].

4. Conclusions
The following points are concluded:
• Although square ended punch and die produce blanks of better quality, it is essential to
provide profile radiusing of punch and die to improve their lives. Increasing punch and die
profile radii caused increase in both blanking force and energy particularly at small radial
clearance percentage.
• In general, providing the profile radii tends to increase the energy and reduces the blanking
force and reduces the quality of the blanks. Furthermore, they caused enlargement of the shear
zone, being more affected by the die profile radius.

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

• Radiusing the punch and die profiles caused delay in crack formation at small values and non-
occurrence at large values and resulted of lower levels of miccrohardness in the vicinity of the
radiused end.

5. References
[1] Zener C and Hollomen J H 1944 Journal of applied physics 15 22.
[2] Chang I M 1950-51 Journal of institute of metals 78 393.
[3] Maeda T and Temura K 1960 Bulletin Japanese society of mechanical engineer 312.
[4] Daives R and Dhawan S M 1966 A preliminary investigation of high speed blanking and
piercing of metals Applied mechanics convention, Cambridge.
[5] Daives R and Dhawan S M 1968 Comparison of some strain rate effects in slow and high
speed blanking proceeding of 9th international machine tool design research conference.
[6] Jonson W and Slater R A C 1964-65 A Comparison of Energy Required for Slow Speed and
Dynamic Blanking using an Improved Linear Motor (proceeding institute of mechanical
engineers, 1964-65).
[7] Jonson W and Slater R A C 1965-66 Further Experiments in Quasistatic and Dynamic
Blanking of Circular Discs from Various Materials proceeding institute of mechanical
engineers.
[8] Slater R A C and Johnson W1967 International journal of mechanical science 9 271.
[9] Johnson W and Travis F W1966 High Speed Blanking of Copper Applied Mechanics
Convention, London 1966.
[10] Johnson W and Travis F W 1965 High Speed Blanking of Steel Engineering plasticity edited
by J. Heymon and F.A. Leckie 385.
[11] Dowling A R and Harding J 1970 Journal of institute of metals 96 215.
[12] Stock T A C and Wingrove A L 1970 Journal of mechanical engineering science 13(1971), p.
110.
[13] Balendra R and Travis F W1979 Journal of machine tool design and research, Vol. 10 . 249.
[14] Koura M M and Zaid A I O Parameters Affecting Blanking Operation second Cairo
conference Cairo 1982.
[15] Kazzutake Komori 2013 Simulation of crack arrest in blanking using the node separation
method International Journal of Mechanical Sciences MS2386.
[16] Thipprakmas S, Jin M and Murakawa M 1961 An Investigation of material flow analysis in
fine blanking process Journal of Materials Science Processing 192-193 237-242.
[17] P.E.R.A.: Blanking and Piercing Report 93.
[18] Noble C F and Oxley P L B 1963 Crack Formation in Blanking and Piercing, International
Journal of Production Research, Nov.
[19] Klingenberg W and de Boer T W 2008 Condition based maintenance in punching/ blanking of
sheet metal International Journal of Machine tools and Manufacture 48 589-598.
[20] Klingenberg W and Singh U P 2005 Comparison of two Analytical Models of Blanking and
Proposal of a newmodel International Journal of machine tools and manufacture 45 519-
527.

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International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM 2013) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 60 (2014) 012065 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/60/1/012065

[21] Kligenberg W and Singh U P 1980 Further Observations and Review of Numerical Solutions
of Sheet Metal Punching International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 22
215- 231.

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