Introduction

• Shearing
• Before a sheet-metal part is made, a blank of suitable dimensions first is
removed from a large sheet (usually from a coil) by shearing.
• This sheet is cut by subjecting it to shear stresses, - using a punch and a die
• Note - edges are not smooth nor are they perpendicular
• Shearing starts with the formation of cracks on both the top and bottom
edges of the work piece
• These cracks eventually meet each - complete separation occurs.
• The rough fracture surfaces are due to the cracks
• the smooth and shiny burnished surfaces on the hole and the slug are from
the contact and rubbing of the sheared edge against the walls of the punch
and die, respectively.
• The major processing parameters in shearing are
– The shape of the punch and die
– The speed of punching
– Lubrication
– The clearance, c, between the punch and the die.
• The clearance is a major factor in determining the shape and the
quality of the sheared edge
• As the clearance increases, the zone of deformation becomes
larger and the sheared edge becomes rougher
• sheet tends to be pulled into the clearance region, edges of the
sheared zone become rougher
• Edge quality can be improved with increasing punch speed - 10 to
12 m/s.
• sheared edges can undergo severe cold working due to the high
shear strains involved
• Work hardening of the edges will reduce the ductility of the edges
• affect the formability of the sheet
• The ratio of the burnished area to the rough areas along the
sheared edge
(a) increases with increasing ductility of the sheet metal and
(b) decreases with increasing sheet thickness and clearance.
• The extent of the deformation zone in depends on the punch
speed
(a) Schematic illustration of shearing with a punch and die, indicating some of the process
variables. Characteristic features of (b) a punched hole and (c) the slug.
• With increasing speed, the heat generated by plastic deformation
is confined to a smaller and smaller zone
• Sheared zone is narrower, and the sheared surface is smoother
and less burr
• Burr height increases with increasing clearance and ductility of
the sheet metal
• Dull tool edges contribute greatly to large burr formation
Punch Force.
• The force = the product of the shear strength of the sheet metal
and the total area being sheared along the periphery
• The maximum punch force, F, F = 0.7TL(Uts)
where T is the sheet thickness, L is the total length sheared (such
as the perimeter of a hole), and UTS is the ultimate tensile
strength of the material
• As the clearance increases, the punch force decreases, and the
wear on dies and punches also is reduced
• addition to the punch force, a force is required to strip the punch
from the sheet during its return stroke ( in opposite direction)
Shearing Operations
• The most common shearing operations are
punching-where the sheared slug is scrap or may
be used for some other purpose-and blanking-
where the slug is the part to be used and the rest is
scrap.

(a) Punching (piercing) and blanking. (b) Examples of various die-cutting operations on sheet
metal.
Die Cutting.
• This is a shearing operation that consists of the following basic
Processes
• Perforating: punching a number of holes in a sheet
• Parting: shearing the sheet into two or more pieces
• Notching: removing pieces (or various shapes) from the edges
• Lancing: leaving a tab without removing any material.
• Perforated sheet metals with hole diameters ranging from around 1 mm to 75 mm
have uses as filters, as screens, in ventilation, as guards for machinery, in noise
abatement, and in Weight reduction of fabricated parts and structures
Fine Blanking
• Very smooth and square edges can be produced by fine blanking
• A V-shaped stinger or impingement mechanically locks the sheet
tightly in place and prevents the type of distortion of the material
• The fine-blanking -developed in the 1965- involves clearances 1%
of the sheet thickness- may range from 0.5 to 13 mm in most cases.
• Dimensional tolerances - +/-0.05 mm and less than +/-0.025 mm in
the case of edge perpendicularity
Slitting.
• Shearing operations - carried out by pair of circular blades - similar to those in a
can opener
• In slitting, the blades follow either a straight line, a circular path, or a curved path
• A slit edge normally has a burr, which may be folded over the sheet surface by
rolling it (flattening) between two rolls
• If not performed properly, slitting operations can cause various distortions of the
sheared edges.
Steel Rules.
• Soft metals (paper, leather, and rubber) can be blanked with a steel-rule die
• Such a die consists of a thin strip of hardened steel bent into the shape to be
produced and held on its edge on a flat wood or polymer base
• The die is pressed against the sheet, which rests on the flat surface, and it shears
the sheet along the shape of the steel rule.
Nibbling.
• In nibbling, a machine called a nibbler moves a small straight punch up and down
rapidly into a die
• A sheet is fed through the gap and many overlapping holes are made
• With manual or automatic control, sheets can be cut along any desired path
• In addition to its flexibility, an advantage of nibbling is that intricate slots and
notches, can be produced with standard punches
• The process is economical for small production runs because no special dies are
required.
(a) Comparison of sheared edges produced by conventional (left) and by fine-blanking (right)
techniques. (b) Schematic illustration of one setup for fine blanking.
Slitting with rotary knives. This process is similar to opening cans.
Characteristics and Type of Shearing Dies
• Clearance. Because the formability of the sheared part can be influenced by
the quality of its sheared edges, clearance control is important.
• The appropriate clearance depends on
- Type of material and its temper
- Thickness and size of the blank
-Its proximity to the edges of other sheared edges or the edges of the
original blank.
• Clearances generally - 2 to 8% of the sheet thickness
• they may be as small as 1% (as in fine blanking) or as large as 30%
• Smaller the clearance, the better is the quality of the edge

• If the sheared edge is rough and not acceptable- it is subjected - shaving

process- the extra material from the edge is trimmed

• As a general guideline,
* Clearances for soft materials are less than those for harder grades
* Thicker the sheet, the larger the clearance must be
* As the ratio of hole diameter to sheet thickness decreases, clearances
should be larger.
Punch and Die Shape.
• The location of the regions being sheared at any particular instant can be
controlled by beveling the punch and die surfaces
• Beveling is suitable particularly for shearing thick sheets because it reduces the
force at the beginning of the stroke
• It also reduces the operation’s noise level, because the operation is smoother.
Compound Dies.
• Several operations on the same sheet performed in one stroke at one station
• limited to relatively simple shapes, because (a) the process is slow and (b) the dies
much expensive than for individual shearing operations, especially for complex
dies.
Progressive Dies.
• multiple operations to produce can be made at high production rates in progressive
dies
• The sheet metal is fed through as a coil strip, and a different operation (such as
punching, blanking, and notching) is performed at the same station of the machine
with each stroke of a series of punches
Transfer Dies
• ln a transfer-die setup, the sheet metal undergoes different operations at different
stations - arranged along a straight line or a circular path
• After each step the part is transferred to the next station for further operations.
 Compound Die and Progressive Die
Schematic illustrations: (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). (c) Schematic illustration of making a washer in a progressive die. (d) Forming of
the top piece of an aerosol spray can in a progressive die. Note that the part is attached to the
strip until the last operation is completed.
Miscellaneous Methods of Cutting Sheet Metal
Laser-beam cutting is an important process typically used with computer-
controlled equipment to cut a variety of shapes consistently, in various
thicknesses, and without the use of any dies
• Laser-beam cutting also can be combined with punching and shearing
Water-jet cutting is effective on many metallic as well as nonmetallic materials
Cutting with a band saw; this method is a chip-removal process.
Friction sawing involves a disk or blade that rubs against the sheet or plate at
high surface speeds
Flame cutting is another common method, particularly for thick plates
• it is used widely in shipbuilding and on heavy structural component
Sheet-metal Characteristics and Formability
• After a blank is cut from a larger sheet or coil, it is formed into various
shapes by several processes
• characteristics of sheet metals that have important effects on these forming
operations
• Elongation. Sheet-metal-forming processes -rarely involve - like
tension test

• specimen subjected to tension -first uniform elongation -the load

exceeds the UTS- begins to neck -and elongation not uniform.
• material usually stretched in sheet forming- uniform elongation is
desirable for good formability
• The true strain at which necking begins is numerically equal to the
strain-hardening exponent (n)
• Thus, a high n value indicates large uniform elongation
• Necking may be localized or it may be diffuse, depending on the
strain-rate sensitivity (m) of the material
• The higher the value of m, the more diffuse the neck becomes
• A diffuse neck is desirable in sheet-forming operations
• In addition to uniform elongation and necking, the total
elongation of the specimen (in terms of that for a 50-mm gage
length) is also a significant factor in the formability of sheet
metals.
Yield-point Elongation.
• Low-carbon steels and some aluminum-magnesium alloys exhibit a behavior called
yield-point elongation: having both upper and lower yield points
• This behavior results in Luder’s bands (also called stretcher strain marks or worms)
on the sheet -elongated depressions on the surface of the sheet, such as can be
found on the bottom of cans containing common household products
• These marks- objectionable in final product - cause difficulties in subsequent
operations.
• The usual method of avoiding Luder’s bands - to eliminate or reduce yield point
elongation by reducing the thickness of the sheet 0.5 to 1.5% by cold rolling
• Because of strain aging, however, the yield-point elongation reappears after a few
days at room temperature or after a few hours at higher temperatures.
• To prevent this undesirable occurrence, the material should be formed within a
certain time limit (which depends on the type of the steel).
Anisotropy. An important factor that influences sheet-metal forming is anisotropy
(directionality) of the sheet.
• Recall that anisotropy is acquired during the thermo mechanical processing of the
sheet and that there are two types of anisotropy
crystallographic anisotropy (preferred orientation of the grains) and mechanical
fibering (alignment of impurities, inclusions, and voids throughout the thickness of
the sheet).
Grain Size. grain size affects mechanical properties
• and influences the surface appearance of the formed part (orange peel)
• The smaller the grain size, the stronger is the metal
• the coarser the grain the rougher is the surface appearance.
• An ASTM grain size of 7 or finer is preferred for general sheet-forming operations.
Dent Resistance of Sheet Metals. Dents commonly are found on cars, appliances, and
office furniture
• Dents usually are caused by dynamic forces from moving objects that hit the sheet
metal
• In typical automotive panels, for example, velocities at impact range up to 45 m/s
• it is the dynamic yield stress (yield stress under high rates of deformation), rather
than the static yield stress, that is the significant strength parameter.
• Dynamic forces tend to cause localized dents, whereas static forces tend to diffuse
the dented area
• This phenomenon may be demonstrated by trying to dent a piece of flat sheet
metal, first by pushing a ball-peen hammer against it and then by striking it with
the hammer
• Dent resistance of sheet-metal parts has been found to (a) increase as the sheet
thickness and its yield stress increase and (b) decrease as its elastic modulus and its
overall panel stiffness increase
• Consequently, panels rigidly held at their edges have lower dent resistance because
of their higher stiffness.
(a) Yield-point elongation in a sheet-metal specimen. (b) Luder’s bands in a low-carbon steel
sheet. (c) Stretcher strains at the bottom of a steel can for household products.
Bending Sheets, Plates, and Tubes
• Bending is one of the most common industrial forming operations.
• bending also imparts stiffness to the part by increasing its moment of
inertia.
• As a specific example, observe the diametral stiffness of a metal can with
and without circumferential beads
• Note that the outer fibers of the material are in tension, while the inner
fibers are in compression.
• Because of the Poisson effect, the Width of the part (bend length, L) has
become smaller in the outer region and larger in the inner region than the
original width
Springback
• Because all materials have a finite modulus of elasticity
• plastic deformation always is followed by some elastic
recovery when the load is removed
• In bending, this recovery is called spring back,
• Spring back occurs not only in flat sheets and plates, but also
in solid or hollow bars and tubes of any cross section
• the final bend angle after spring back is smaller than the
angle to which the part was bent
• the final bend radius is larger than before spring back occurs.
• In V-die bending, it is possible for the material to also exhibit
negative spring back
• This condition is caused by the nature of the deformation
occurring just as the punch completes the bending operation
at the end of the stroke
• Negative spring back does not occur in air bending, (also
called free bending), because of the absence of constraints
that a V-die imposes on the bend area.
 Springback in bending. The part tends to
recover elastically after bending, and its
bend radius becomes larger. Under
certain conditions, it is possible for the
final bend angle to be smaller than the
original angle (negative springback).

16.21 Common die-

bending operations
showing the die-
Methods of reducing or eliminating springback opening dimension,
in bending operations W, used in
calculating bending
Compensation for Spring back
• Spring back in forming operations usually is compensated for by over
bending the part
• Several trials may be necessary to obtain the desired results
• Another method is to coin the bend area by subjecting it to highly localized
compressive stresses between the tip of the punch and the die surface- a
technique known as bottoming the punch
• Another method is stretch bending, in which the part is subjected to
tension while being bent
Miscellaneous Bending and Related operations
Press-brake Forming.
• Sheet metal or plate can be bent easily with simple fixtures using a press
• Sheets or narrow strips that are 7 m or even longer usually are bent in a
press brake
• The machine utilizes long dies in a mechanical or hydraulic press and is
particularly suitable for small production runs
• the tooling is simple, their motions are only up and down, and they easily
are adaptable to a wide variety of shapes.
• the process can be automated easily for low-cost, high-production runs.
• For most applications, however, carbon-steel or gray-iron dies generally are
used.
Bending in a Four-slide Machine
• Bending relatively short pieces can be done on a machine
• In these machines, the lateral movements of the dies are controlled and
synchronized with the vertical die movement to form the part into desired
shapes
• This process is useful in making seamed tubing and bushings, fasteners,
and various machinery components.
Roll Bending
• In this process, plates are bent using a set of rolls. By adjusting the distance
between the three rolls, various curvatures can be obtained
• This process is flexible and is used widely for bending plates for applications
such as boilers, cylindrical pressure vessels, and various curved structural
members
Beading
• In beading, the periphery of the sheet metal is bent into the cavity of a die
• The bead imparts stiffness to the part by increasing the moment of inertia
of that section
• Also, beads improve the appearance of the part and eliminate exposed
sharp edges that can be hazardous.
Examples of various bending operations.
16.23 (a) through (e) Schematic illustrations of various bending operations in a press brake. (f)
Schematic illustration of a press brake
Flanging.
• This is a process of bending the edges of sheet metals, usually to 90°.
• In shrink flanging , the flange is subjected to compressive hoop stresses that, if excessive,
can cause the flange periphery to wrinkle
• The wrinkling tendency increases with decreasing radius of curvature of the flange
• In stretch flanging, the flange periphery is subjected to tensile stresses that, if excessive, can
lead to cracking along the periphery.
Roll Forming.
• This process, which is also called contour-roll forming or cold-roll forming, is used for
forming continuous lengths of sheet metal and for large production runs
• As it passes through a set of rolls, the metal strip is bent in consecutive stages
• Typical roll-formed products are panels, door and picture frames, channels, gutters, siding,
and pipes and tubing with lock seams
• Sheet thickness usually ranges from about 0.125 to 20 mm
• Forming speeds are generally below 1.5 m/s, higher for special applications.
• Dimensional tolerances and spring back, as well as tearing and buckling of the strip, have to
be considered
• The rolls generally are made of carbon steel or of gray iron, and they may be chromium
plated for a better surface finish of the formed product and for better Wear resistance of the
rolls.
• Lubricants may be used to reduce roll Wear, to improve surface finish, and to cool the rolls
and the sheet being formed.
Tube Bending and Forming
• Bending and forming tubes and other hollow sections requires special tooling
because of the tendency for buckling and folding, as one notes when trying to bend
a piece of copper tubing or even a plastic soda straw.
• The oldest method of bending a tube or pipe is to first pack its inside with loose
particles and then bend it into a suitable fixture
• The function of the filler is to prevent the tube from buckling inward
• Tubes also can be plugged with various flexible internal mandrels for the same
purpose as the sand
• Note that a relatively thick tube to be formed to a large bend radius can be bent
safely without the use of fillers or plugs.
Dimpling, Piercing, and Flaring.
• In dimpling, a hole first is punched and then expanded into a flange
• Flanges also may be produced by piercing with a shaped punch
• Tube ends can be flanged by a similar process When the bend angle is less than 90°
the process is called flaring.
• Stretching the material causes high tensile stresses along the periphery, which can
lead to cracking and tearing of the flange.
• As the ratio of flange diameter to hole diameter increases, the strains increase
proportionately
• Depending on the roughness of the edge, there will be a tendency for cracking
along the outer periphery of the flange.
• To reduce this possibility, sheared or punched edges may be shaved off with a
sharp tool to improve the surface finish of the edge.
(a) Bead forming with a single die. (b) and (c) Bead forming with two dies in a press brake

Various flanging operations. (a) Flanges on a flat sheet. (b) Dimpling. (c) The piercing of sheet
metal to form a flange. In this operation, a hole does not have to be pre-punched before the
punch descends. Note, however, the rough edges along the circumference of the flange. (d)
The flanging of a tube. Note the thinning of the edges of the flange
(a) Schematic illustration of the roll-forming process. (b) Examples of roll-formed cross-
sections
Methods of bending tubes. Internal mandrels or filling of tubes with particulate materials such
as sand are often necessary to prevent collapse of the tubes during bending. Tubes also can be
bent by a technique consisting if a stiff, helical tension spring slipped over the tube. The
clearance between the OD of the tube and the ID of the spring is small, thus the tube cannot
kick and the bend is uniform
Hemming and Seaming. In the hemming process (also called flattening), the
edge of the sheet is folded over itself
• Hemming increases the stiffness of the part, improves its appearance, and
eliminates sharp edges
• Seaming involves joining two edges of sheet metal by hemming
• Double seams are made by a similar process using specially shaped rollers
for water tight and airtight joints, such as are needed in food and beverage
containers.
Bulging
• This process involves placing a tubular, conical, or curvilinear part into a
split-female die and then expanding the part, usually with a polyurethane
plug
• The punch is then retracted, the plug returns to its original shape and the
formed part is removed by opening the split dies
• Typical products made are coffee or water pitchers, beer barrels, and beads
on oil drums
• For parts with complex shapes, the plug may be shaped in order to apply
higher pressures at critical regions of the part
• The major advantages of using polyurethane plugs is that they are highly
resistant to abrasion and wear
• they do not damage the surface finish of the part being formed.
(a) The bulging of a tubular part with a flexible plug. Water pitcher can be made by this
method. (b) Production of fittings for plumbing by expanding tubular blanks under internal
pressure
 Steps in manufacturing a bellows

Segmented Dies. These dies consist of individual segments that are placed inside the part to be
formed and expanded mechanically in a generally radial direction. They are then retracted to
remove the formed part. Segmented dies are relatively inexpensive, and they can be used for
large production runs.
Stretch Forming
• In stretch forming, the sheet metal is clamped along its edges and then stretched
over a male die (form block or form punch)
• The die moves upward, downward, or sideways, depending on the particular design
of the machine
• Stretch forming is used primarily to make aircraft wing-skin panels, fuselages, and
boat hulls
• Aluminum skins for the Boeing 767 and 757 aircraft, for example, are made by
stretch forming-with a tensile force of 9 MN.
• The rectangular sheets are 12 m X 2.5 m X 6.4 mm
• Although this process generally is used for low volume production, it is versatile
and economical, particularly for the aerospace industry.
• In most operations, the blank is a rectangular sheet clamped along its narrower
edges and stretched lengthwise, thus allowing the material to shrink in width.
• Controlling the amount of stretching is important in order to prevent tearing.
• Stretch forming cannot produce parts with sharp contours or with reentrant
corners (depressions on the surface of the die)
• Various accessory equipment can be used in conjunction with stretch forming,
including further forming with both male and female dies while the part is under
tension
• Dies for stretch forming generally are made of zinc alloys, steel, plastics, or wood
• Most applications require little or no lubrication.
Schematic illustration of a stretch-forming process. Aluminum skins for aircraft can be made by
this method
Deep Drawing
• Numerous parts made of sheet metal are cylindrical or box shaped,
• Such parts usually are made by a process in which a punch forces a flat
sheet-metal blank into a die cavity
• Although the process generally is called deep drawing (because of its
capability for producing deep parts)
• it also is used to make parts that are shallow or have moderate depth
• It is one of the most important metalworking processes because of its
widespread use.
• In the basic deep-drawing process, a round sheet-metal blank is placed over
a circular die opening and is held in place with a blank holder, or hold-down
ring
• The punch travels downward and forces the blank into the die cavity,
forming a cup.
• The important variables in deep drawing are the properties of the sheet
metal, the ratio of blank diameter, DO; the punch diameter, DP; the
clearance, c, between punch and die; the punch radius, Rp; the die-corner
radius, Rd; the blank holder force; and friction and lubrication between all
contacting surfaces.
• During the drawing operation, the movement of the blank into the die
cavity induces compressive circumferential (hoop) stresses in the flange,
which tend to cause the flange to wrinkle during drawing.
• This phenomenon can be demonstrated simply by trying to force a circular piece of paper
into a round cavity, such as a drinking glass
• Wrinkling can be reduced or eliminated if a blank holder is loaded by a
certain force
• In order to improve performance, the magnitude of this force can be
controlled as a function of punch travel.
• the maximum punch force, Fmax, can be estimated from the formula

• It can be seen that the force increases with increasing blank diameter,
thickness, strength, and the ratio (DO/Dp)
• The wall of the cup is subjected principally to a longitudinal (vertical) tensile
stress due to the punch force
• Elongation under this stress causes the cup wall to become thinner and, if
excessive, can cause tearing of the cup.
The metal-forming processes involved in manufacturing a two-piece aluminum beverage can.
(a) Schematic illustration of the deep-drawing process on a circular sheet-metal blank. The
stripper ring facilitates the removal of the formed cup from the punch. (b) Process variables in
deep drawing. Except for the punch force, F, all the parameters indicated on the figure are
independent variables
Deep Drawability
• In a deep-drawing operation, failure generally results from the thinning of
the cup wall under high longitudinal tensile stresses.
• If we follow the movement of the material as it flows into the die cavity, it
can be seen that the sheet metal (a) must be capable of undergoing a
reduction in width due to a reduction in diameter and
• (b) must also resist thinning under the longitudinal tensile stresses in the
cup wall.
• Deep drawability generally is expressed by the limiting drawing ratio (LDR)
as

• Whether a sheet metal can be deep drawn successfully into a round

cup-shaped part has been found to be a function of the normal
anisotropy, R (plastic anisotropy), of the sheet metal.
• R is defined in terms of the true strains that the specimen undergoes
in tension
• Because cold-rolled sheets generally have anisotropy in their planar
direction, the R value of a specimen cut from a rolled sheet will depend on
its orientation with respect to the rolling direction of the sheet.
• For this condition, an average value, Ravg, is calcula ted from the equation

• no other mechanical property of sheet metal shows as consistent a

relationship to LDR as does Ravg.
• By using a simple tensile-test result - obtaining the normal anisotropy
of the sheet metal, the limiting drawing ratio of a material can be
determined
Earing
• In deep drawing, the edges of cups may become wavy-a phenomenon called earing
• Ears are objectionable on deep-drawn cups because - no useful purpose - interfere
with further processing of the cup
• Earing is caused by the planar anisotropy of the sheet,
• The number of ears produced may be two, four, or eight, depending on the
processing history and microstructure of the sheet.
• If the sheet is stronger in the rolling direction than transverse and the strength
varies uniformly with respect to orientation, then two ears will form.
• If the sheet has high strength at different orientations, then more ears will form.
• The planar anisotropy of the sheet is indicated by ΔR
• It is defined in terms of directional R values from the equation
• When ΔR = 0, no ears form. The height of the ears increases as ΔR increases.
• It can be seen that deep drawability is enhanced by a high Ravg value and a low ΔR.
• However, sheet metals with high Ravg also have high ΔR values.
• Sheet-metal textures are being developed continually to improve drawability by controlling
• the type of alloying elements in the material as well as various processing
• parameters during rolling of the sheet.
Explosive Forming.
• Controlling the quantity and shape makes it possible to use explosives as a
source of energy for sheet-metal forming
• First utilized in the early 1900,
• There are no unusual hardening effects or structural changes in the metal
• However, when the explosive charge is placed in direct contact with the
metal, very high transient stresses are produced in the metal and unusual
hardening and structural changes may be produced depending on the metal
• A remarkable aspect of explosive hardening is that quite high hardness can
be produced with essentially no grain distortion or gross distortion of the
workpiece.
• Sheet-metal blank is clamped over a die and the entire assembly is lowered
into a tank filled with Water
• The air in the die cavity is then evacuated- explosive charge is placed at a
certain height, and the charge is detonated.
• The explosive generates a shock wave with a pressure
• A variety of shapes can be formed through explosive forming
• Provided that the material is ductile at the high rates of deformation
characteristic of this process
• process is versatile, virtually no limit to the size of the sheet
or plate
• suitable for low-quantity production runs of large parts,
those used in aerospace applivation.
• Steel plates 25 mm thick and 3.6 m in diameter have been
formed,
• Tubes with wall thicknesses 25 mm also possible
• explosive-forming method can be used at a much smaller
scale, In this case, a cartridge is used as the source of energy
• The process can be useful in the bulging and expanding of
thin-walled tubes for specialized applications.
• The mechanical properties of parts made by explosive
forming are basically similar to those of others made by
conventional forming methods
• Depending on the number of parts to be produced, dies may
be made of aluminum alloys, steel, ductile iron, zinc alloys,
reinforced concrete, wood, plastics, or composite materials.
 Electrohydraulic Forming
• Electrohydraulic forming is a HERF process- shock wave
deform the work into a die cavity - by the discharge of
electrical energy b/w two electrodes submerged in a
transmission fluid (water).
• this process is also called electric discharge forming.
• Electrical energy is accumulated in large capacitors-
then released to the electrodes.
• Electrohydraulic forming is similar to explosive forming.
The difference is in the method of generating the
energy and the smaller amounts of energy that are
released.
• This limits electrohydraulic forming to much smaller
part sizes.
Electromagnetically Assisted Forming
• In electromagnetically assisted forming, also called magnetic-pulse forming, the energy
stored in a capacitor bank is discharged rapidly through a magnetic coil.
• a ring-shaped coil is placed over a tubular work piece
• The tube is then collapsed by magnetic forces over a solid piece, thus making the assembly
an integral part
• The mechanics of this process is based on the fact that a magnetic field produced by the coil
crosses the metal tube (which is an electrical conductor) and generates eddy currents in the
tube
• In turn, these currents produce their own magnetic field.
• The forces produced by the two magnetic fields oppose each other
• The repelling force generated between the coil and the tube then collapses the tube over
the inner piece
• The higher the electrical conductivity of the work piece, the higher the magnetic forces.
• It is not necessary for the work piece material to have magnetic properties.
• It has been shown that the basic advantages of this process is that the formability of the
material is increased, dimensional accuracy is improved, and spring back and wrinkling are
reduced
• Magnetic coil design is an important consideration for the success of the operation.
• Flat magnetic coils also can be made for use in operations such as embossing and shallow
drawing of sheet metals.
• The process has been found to be particularly effective for aluminum alloys
• First used in the 1960s, electromagnetically assisted forming is now applied to (a) collapsing
thin-walled tubes over rods, cables, and plugs; (b) compression-crimp sealing of automotive
oil filter canisters; (c) specialized sheet-forming operations; (d) bulging and flaring
operations; and (e) swaging end fittings onto torque tubes for the Boeing 777 aircraft