Traditional Manufacturing Processes

Casting
Forming
Sheet metal processing
Powder- and Ceramics Processing
Plastics processing
Cutting
Joining
Surface treatment

Sheet Metal Processes

Raw material: sheets of metal, rectangular, large

Raw material Processing: Rolling (anisotropic properties)

Processes:
Shearing
Punching
Bending
Deep drawing
Hydroforming

Shearing

A large scissors action, cutting the sheet along a straight line

Main use: to cut large sheet into smaller sizes for making parts.

Shearing
Shearing is a process for cutting sheet metal to size out of a
larger stock such as roll stock. Shears are used as the
preliminary step in preparing stock for stamping processes.
Material thickness ranges from 0.125 mm to 6.35 mm
(0.005 to 0.250 in). The dimensional tolerance ranges from
0.125 mm to 1.5 mm (0.005 to 0.060 in).
The shearing process produces a shear edge burr, which
can be minimized to less than 10% of the material
thickness. The burr is a function of clearance between the
punch and the die (which is nominally designed to be the
material thickness), and the sharpness of the punch and
the die.

Blanking / Punching
Blanking and punching are similar sheet metal
cutting operations that involve cutting the
sheet metal along a closed outline.
If the part that is cut out is the desired
product, the operation is called blanking
and the product is called blank. If the remaining
stock is the desired part, the operation is called
punching.

Blanking / Punching

Cutting tool is a round/rectangular punch,

that goes through a hole, or die of same shape

F t X edge-length of punch X shear strength

crack
(failure in shear)

Punch

piece cut away, or slug

sheet

die

die

clearance

Punching

Main uses: cutting holes in sheets; cutting sheet to required shape

nesting of parts

typical punched part

Exercise: how to determine optimal nesting?

Bending

Body of Olympus E-300 camera

component with multiple bending operations

component with punching,

bending, drawing operations

[image source: dpreview.com]

Typical bending operations and shapes

(a)

(b)

Sheet metal bending

Planning problem: what is the sequence in which we do the bending operations?

Avoid: part-tool, part-part, part-machine interference

Bending mechanics

Bending Planning what is the length of blank we must use?

Bend allowance, Lb = (R + kT)

This section is
under extension

T = Sheet thickness

Neutral axis
L = Bend length

This section is
in compression

Ideal case: k = 0.5

R = Bend radius

Real cases: k = 0.33 ( R < 2T) ~~ k = 0.5 (R > 2T)

Bending: cracking, anisotropic effects, Poisson effect

Bending plastic deformation

Engineering strain in bending = e = 1/( 1 + 2R/T)
Bending disallow failure (cracking) limits on corner radius: bend radius 3T
effect of anisotropic stock

Poisson effect

Exercise: how does anisotropic behavior affect planning?

Bending: springback
T

Final

R
Rf
Initial

i
f

How to handle springback:

3

R
RY
RY
(a) Compensation: the metal is bent by a larger angle i 4 i 3 i 1
Rf
ET
ET

(b) Coining the bend:

at end of bend cycle, tool exerts large force, dwells

coining: press down hard, wait, release

Deep Drawing

Tooling: similar to punching operation,

Mechanics: similar to bending operation
punch

blank holder

blank

punch

punch

punch

part
die

die
(a)

die

die
(b)

(c)

die
(d)

Examples of deep drawn parts

Common applications: cooking pots, containers,

(e)

Sheet metal parts with combination of operations

Body of Olympus E-300 camera

component with multiple bending operations

component with punching,

bending, drawing operations

[image source: dpreview.com]