Sheet Metalworking

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 Sheet Metalworking
• Sheet metalworking includes cutting and forming
operations performed on relatively thin sheets of
metal.
• Typical sheet-metal thicknesses are between 0.4
mm and 6mm .
• When thickness exceeds about 6 mm, the stock is
usually referred to as plate rather than sheet.
• The sheet or plate stock used in sheet
metalworking is produced by flat rolling.
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 Sheet Metalworking
• The most commonly used sheet metal is low
carbon steel (0.06%–0.15% C typical).
• Its low cost and good formability, combined with
sufficient strength for most product applications,
make it ideal as a starting material.
• Sheet-metal processing is usually performed at
room temperature (cold working) .
• The exceptions are when the stock is thick, the
metal is brittle, or the deformation is significant.
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 Sheet Metalworking
• These are usually cases of warm working rather
than hot working.
• Most sheet-metal operations are performed on
machine tools called presses.
• The term stamping press is used to distinguish
these presses from forging and extrusion presses.
• The tooling that performs sheet metalwork is
called a punch-and-die; the term stamping die is
also used.
• The sheet-metal products are called stampings. 4
 Sheet Metalworking
• To facilitate mass production, the sheet metal is
often presented to the press as long strips or coils.
• The three major categories of sheet-metal
processes are (1) cutting, (2) bending, and (3)
drawing.
• Cutting is used to separate large sheets into
smaller pieces, to cut out part perimeters, and to
make holes in parts.
• Bending and drawing are used to form sheet-metal
parts into their required shapes 5
 CUTTING OPERATIONS
• Cutting of sheet metal is accomplished by a
shearing action between two sharp cutting edges.
• The shearing action is depicted in the four stop-
action sketches of Figure, in which the upper
cutting edge (the punch) sweeps down past a
stationary lower cutting edge (the die).
• As the punch begins to push into the work, plastic
deformation occurs in the surfaces of the sheet.

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 CUTTING OPERATIONS
• If the clearance between the punch and die is
correct, the two fracture lines meet, resulting in a
clean separation of the work into two pieces.

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 CUTTING OPERATIONS
• As the punch moves downward, penetration
occurs in which the punch compresses the sheet
and cuts into the metal.
• This penetration zone is generally about one-third
to half the thickness of the sheet.
• As the punch continues to travel into the work,
fracture is initiated in the work at the two cutting
edges.

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PUNCH

DIE

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 SHEARING , BLANKING, AND PUNCHING
• The three most important operations in
pressworking that cut metal by the shearing
mechanism just described are shearing, blanking,
and punching.

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 SHEARING
• Shearing is a sheet-metal cutting operation along
a straight line between two cut tiny edges, as
shown in Figure .
• 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. 11
SHEARING

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 Blanking
• 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.

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Blanking
PUNCH

(Scrap)

DIE

Useful Part (Blank)

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Blanking

PUNCH

c db- 2c c

(dp )

Size
DIE
(db )

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Blanking

PUNCH

2 50 - 4 2

50
DIE

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 Punching/ Piercing
• Punching/Piercing 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.

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Punching/
Piercing
PUNCH

Useful Part

DIE

Slug (Scrap) 18
Punching/
Piercing

PUNCH

c Size c

(dh )

dh + 2c DIE
(db )

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Punching/
Piercing

PUNCH

2 50 2

50 + 4
DIE

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 Clearance
• The clearance “c” in a shearing operation is the
distance between the punch and die.
• Typical clearances in conventional pressworking
range between 4% to 8% of the sheet-metal
thickness t.

c = a(t) (1)

Where a = Allowance = 4 to 8%
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 Cutting Forces
• Cutting force “ F ” in sheet metalworking can be
determined by

(lb) (2)

(psi)
(in)
(in)
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 Cutting Forces
• In blanking, punching, slotting, and similar
operations, “ L “is the perimeter length of the
blank or hole being cut.

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 NUMERICAL 1
• A blanking operation is to be performed on 2
mm thick cold rolled steel. The part is circular
with diameter = 75 mm. Determine:
a) the appropriate punch and die sizes for this
operation if the allowance for the cold rolled
steel is a= 0.075.
b) the blanking force required if the steel has a
shear strength = 325 MPa and the tensile
strength is 450 MPa
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NUMERICAL 1

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NUMERICAL 1

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 ENERGY REQUIRED
• The energy E required for punching is calculated
by an emperical formula
E = 1.16Fpt/12
E = Energy ft-lb
p = penetration of punch into stock (%)

If the punch makes N strokes per minute the power

in horsepower is
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 POWER (hp)
• If the punch makes N strokes per minute the
power in horsepower is

P = EN/33000

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