Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

Finite element simulation of ne blanking processes using a

pressure-dependent damage model
Ridha Hambli*
ISTIA LASQUO, Upers JE 2039, 62, Avenue Notre Dame du Lac, 49000 Angers, France
Received 10 January 2001; received in revised form 2 April 2001; accepted 20 July 2001

Abstract
In order to accurately simulate ne blanking processes, a nite element model valid for numerically describing of such operations has
been developed. The numerical simulation of the damage evolution and crack initiation and propagation have been described by means of
continuum damage approach. In this paper, two models for damage accumulation has been implemented in the nite element code
ABAQUS by means of the user routine (UMAT).
The Lemaitre damage model (referred to LMD model) taking into account the inuence of triaxiality has been implemented as well as a
damage model accumulation, based on the Rice and Tracey ductile fracture criterion allowing for the description of the exponential
dependence on triaxiality of the stress eld.
The comparative study between the results obtained by the simulations using the different damage models and the experimental ones,
showed that the LMD model is not able to predict the fracture propagation path in a realistic way. Only the exponential damage evolution
gives good results. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fine blanking; Finite element; Damage law; Fracture; Experiment

1. Introduction
In the ne blanking process, a ring indenter is pressed into
the sheet to be blanked outside the blanking contour before
the process is started. The purpose of using the ring indenter
is to superimpose compressive stresses during blanking. In
this case, the shear fracture stress will become larger than the
shear ow stress for a sufciently superimposed compressive stress, thereby reducing the chances of crack formation.
By superimposing a pure hydrostatic compressive stress a
fully smooth sheared surface of the part can be obtained as
shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2 shows the various stages of operation of a ne
blanking process. Before the actual blanking process, the
ring indenter (V-ring) is pressed into the sheet along the
blanking contour. During the blanking operation the counterpunch force holds the workpiece at by acting in the
opposite direction of the punch movement. After the blanking operation, the ring indenter and the blanking punch
retract to their original positions. The sheet is stripped from
the punch by the ring indenter, and the conterpunch is used
as the ejector.
*
Tel.: 33-2-4136-5757; fax: 33-2-4136-5743.
E-mail address: ridha.hambli@istia.univ-angers.fr (R. Hambli).

For the successful operation of the ne blanking process,

the tool geometry and the additional forces required play an
important role. The main tool geometry characteristics are
punchdie clearance, shape of the ring indenter, distance
between ring indenter and blanking contour, height of the
ring indenter and die-edge radius. In general, process
involves very small clearances of 15% of the sheet's
thickness and, generally, slow punching speed.
In addition to the blanking force, optimum ring indenter
and counterpunch forces must be determined for a successful operation. The counterpunch holds the sheet plane and
at during blanking, thereby preventing bending of the
sheet. A direct effect of these parameters on the formation
of the sheared surfaces can only be observed for thicknesses
above 1 mm. In the shearing zone, the stress condition
during crack formation is triaxial (Fig. 3). According to
Tresca, the ow criterion is
tmax 12 s1

s3

(1)

s1, s2 and s3 are the principal tensile stress, the tangential

tensile stress and the principal compressive stress.
The stress condition changes through the deformation
process. At the initiation of the cracks, tmax reaches the
fracture limit before the yielding limit (Fig. 4). The cracks
are propagated in the direction of maximum shear stress.

0924-0136/01/$ see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 1 0 0 9 - 3

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

253

Fig. 4. Stress conditions at the shearing edge in blanking and fine

blanking: (a) shear yield limit; (b) shear fracture limit; (c) blanking; (d)
fine blanking.

Fig. 1. Sheared profiles obtained by conventional blanking (a) and fine

blanking processes (b).

2. Numerical modeling of damage and ductile fracture

Failure in metalworking usually occurs as ductile fracture.
In general, in terms of metal forming, the propagation of
cracks is of little interest, since the main issue is to avoid
their initiation. In blanking the occurrence of ductile fracture
is an inherent part of the process. Cracks are produced by the
external stress-raising effect of a sharp punch and die acting
on a limited shearing zone.
Fracture can be simulated numerically using different
methods including a continuous approach as used in con-

tinuum damage mechanics, a local fracture criteria

approach, and a global fracture criteria approach using
discrete crack concepts stemming from fracture mechanics
theories. So far, efforts to predict ductile fracture have
resulted in an extensive selection of mainly local failure
criteria. These criteria predict the onset of failure at a
material point by studying the stress and strain history of
this point. Different fracture criteria have been detailed by
Hambli [2] and Hartley [3].
The local criteria are clearly distinguished from the global
fracture criteria using stress intensity factors K, energy release
rates G or J-integrals. These criteria, based on elastic material
behavior, can generally only be applied in cases where the
plastic zone is limited to a small area near the crack tip (small
scale yielding). The use of local and global fracture criteria
are not suitable for describing the gradual material-degradation which cause the rst crack initiation. Consequently,
theoretical formulations have been developed by means of
elasto-plastic laws coupled with continuous damage.

Fig. 2. Various stages of fine blanking operation.

Fig. 3. Stress conditions in shearing after [1].

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R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

Recent efforts in the development of computational models incorporating damage evolution described by void
growth process has given rise to robust predictive methods
for crack propagation in ductile solids [48]. Most of these
works employed the constitutive model initially proposed by
Gurson [9] improved by Tvergaard [10], and nally
extended by Needleman and Tvergaard [11] to account
for the rapid loss of load carrying capacity during void
coalescence. Although good agreement with a range of
experiments and void cell computations has been observed,
the model as it currently stands still suffers from signicant
limitations on predicting damage and fracture generated by
shearing mechanisms.
Gurson model depends on a scalar damage variable
describing the void volume fraction. The model allows
for the damage prediction of porous materials. The normality
assumption ensures that plastic dilation can occur if both the
mean stress and damage values are non-zero. The rst
invariant of the plastic strain rate tensor is the main variable
of the damage evolution. Explanation of the poor result obtained with Gurson model in describing shearing processes is
related to the damage law which do not taken into account
the deviatoric components of the stress and strain tensor.
Blanking process are frequently viewed as shearing operation. The leading stress and strain components describing
the behavior of the sheet are the deviatoric ones. Atkins [12]
observed that shear strain is the leading parameter describing
the fracture of the sheet. Therefore, the equivalent plastic
strain can be used as variable to captures the most damage
mechanisms leading to crack initiation into the sheet.
In this paper, Lemaitre [16] damage model (LMD model)
has been retained to describe the damage evolution leading
to the nal rupture of the sheet. This model is suitable to
simulate such processes since the damage law depends on
the equivalent plastic strain.
3. Numerical modeling of the sheet behavior
The law describing the material behavior should allow for
the description of the different stages of the process observed
experimentally, starting from the elastic state and ending in
the nal rupture of the sheet. For this purpose, a behavioral
law including damage and failure phenomena must be chosen.
The development of ne blanking operations may be carried
out according to the schematic diagram given in Fig. 5.
The algorithms generally implemented in the nite element codes for integration of non-linear constitutive equations are the so-called radial return algorithms, and they are
used to solve the equations in an incremental form. They are
based upon the notion of an elastic predictorplastic corrector where a purely elastic trial state is followed by a
plastic corrector phase [1315]. In this way, an implicit
algorithm have been developed which allows for the integration of the constitutive equations. The integration methods of the non-linear constitutive equations are based on the

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of the approach used.

use of a special algorithm which solves the equations in

incremental form. For this purpose, during a small time
interval tn ; tn1 , it is assumed that the whole increment is
purely elastic, then an elastic prediction is dened as
sTn1 sn Ds

(2)

sn is the stress tensor at increment (n) and Ds the stress

increment. Eq. (2) can be written as:
sTn1 1

Dn Cel en1

epl n

(3)

The superscript (
)T refers to trial test and Cel is the elastic
modulus tensor depending on the damage state of the
material [16], en1 the total strain tensor at increment
n 1, (epl)n the plastic part of the strain tensor at increment (n) and Dn the damage variable at increment (n).
The Von Mises yield function coupled with damage is
given by
1

f seq

Dsel s0

(4)

seq, s0 and sel are, respectively, the Von Mises equivalent

stress, the isotropic non-linear hardening law and the initial
yield stress.
If this elastic prediction satises the yield condition:
f < 0, the prediction is true and the local procedure is
completed. Then it can be stated that:
sn1 sTn1

(5)

Otherwise, this state must be corrected by means of a plastic

correction. For this purpose, the variables at increment n 1
must satisfy the system [15,17,18]:
f 0
sn1

(6)
1

Dn Cel en De

DH a ha Deij ; sij n1 ; Hija

epl n

Depl 0

(7)
(8)

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

where Ha, a 1; 2; . . . ; n, is a set of scalar state variables

and ha the hardening law for Ha. De and Depl are the total
strain increment and the increment of plastic part of the
strain tensor.
The Newton method is used to solve the non-linear global
equilibrium equations as well as the non-linear local equations obtained by full implicit integration of the constitutive
equations. The consistent local tangent modulus is obtained
by the exact linearization of the algorithm. In comparison
with the use of the analytical `standard' modulus, the
consistent modulus leads to a faster convergence rate when
the Newton algorithm is used to perform iterations in the
balance equations. In this way, we have developed an
implicit algorithm which allows for the integration of the
constitutive equations. The scheme obtained seems well
suited to the non-linearity of the behavioral law [10,13,15].
The described procedure, was implemented using the
general purpose code ABAQUS [15] with the help of the
user subroutine UMAT [17]. Within the framework of the
displacement formulation of FEM, the global equilibrium
equations to be satised at each instant tn1 can be written in
the general form [15]:
FUn1 0

(9)

Un1 is the displacement field at step n 1.

If the non-linear problem is solved iteratively by a Newton
method, at each global iteration r the following equation can
be written as
FUrn1 Krn1 Ur1
n1
where
Krn1

@F
@U

r
n1

Urn1 0

BT Jrn1 B dO

(10)

(11)

B is the strain-displacement matrix and Jrn1 the Jacobien

tensor obtained by
 r
@r
Jrn1
(12)
@e n1

255

In LMD model [16] for isotropic damage evolution, the

damage law valid for any loading path is written in the
incremental form:
"
 2 #
2
sH
_DL Dc
1 n 31 2n
eeq 2=n d_eeq
eR eD 3
seq
(13)
sH is the hydrostatic pressure. This model depends upon
material constants for damage properties, the hardening
exponent n and the Poisson's ratio n. eD is the threshold
logarithmic strain at which damage initiates, eR the logarithmic strain value at fracture and eeq the logarithmic plastic
strain, Dc the critical damage value at fracture.
Identication of this model consists in the quantitative
evaluation of the ve coefcients Dc, eR, eD, n and n
characteristic by means of tensile tests [2,16]. The model
(13) is represented in Fig. 6.
The fracture of ductile material has frequently been
observed to result from the large growth and coalescence of microscopic voids, a mechanism enhanced by the
superposition of hydrostatic stress on a plastic deformation
eld.
In the case of sheet metal blanking processes, starting
from different approach which states that the moment when
cracks initiate, the hydrostatic pressure sH is negative at the
cutting edges of the tools, Kasuga et al. [19] proposed a
theoretical model for the damage propagation. They showed
that the cracks which begin at the cutting edges of the die and
the punch grow and spread in the direction of the material
point where sH is minimum.
The increasing formability of metallic work materials
with increasing average pressure seems to be due to the
phenomenon that superposition of a hydrostatic pressure
prevents the initiation and spreading of microcracks in the
work material [3,20]. By consequent, the microstructure of
the work material is less damaged during deformation with
hydrostatic pressure. For materials which fail by void coalescence and growth, and possibly for solids failing by other

Fig. 6. Damage law evolution corresponding to LMD model.

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R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

this modification is to obtain a damage law evolution

corresponding to that of Lemaitre in the case of an uniaxial
loading. In such condition, the triaxiality sH/seq is equal to 13,
then (15) becomes
dDH b1:65 deeq

(16)

In the same way, in the case of an uniaxial loading, the LMD

model takes the following form:


Dc
(17)
deeq
dDL
eR eD

Fig. 7. Schematic representation of the dependence of the strain at fracture

(jfract) on the relative hydrostatic stress after [1].

mechanisms, it is commonly held that increasing hydrostatic

stress states produce lower strain at fracture.
Rice and Tracey [21], and McClintock [22] have demonstrate in their work, that the void enlargement rate is
amplied over the strain rate by a factor rising exponentially
with the ratio of hydrostatic stress to the equivalent stress.
The results suggest a rapidly decreasing fracture ductility
with increasing hydrostatic pressure.
Fig. 7 shows that when there are excessive pressure
components (negative value of sm/sf), the formability is
greater than in the loading state when there are multiaxial
rension (large values of sm/sf).
As a conclusion from the aforementioned works, it is
obvious that a damage law must taken into account the
equivalent plastic strain and the hydrostatic pressure value
sH. Such a law would be suitable to describe the damage
evolution of the material before nal rupture, especially
when the deformation process is affected by a hydrostatic
pressure eld.
In their approach, Rice and Tracey [21] have studied the
process of void nucleation, growth and coalescence. This
process of void creation and growth leading to ductile
fracture may be interpreted as one of the progressive damage
which can be accumulated over the plastic strain evolution
until a critical value at which fracture occur. Rice and Tracey
proposed approximate criteria allowing for the prediction of
the growth f a spherical void of radius R in a plastic matrix by


dR
sH
dDTR
0:283 exp 1:5
(14)
deeq
R
seq
where DTR is the void growth damage parameter.
In the following, we propose a modication of Rice and
Tracey model as


sH
dDH b exp 1:5
(15)
deeq
seq
In this model (referred to HR model), the coefficient 0.283 is
replaced by a parameter b to be identified. The reason for

If we write that: dDH dDL , we obtain a relation between

the coefficient b and the coefficients Dc, eR, eD as follows:


1
Dc
b
(18)
1:65 eR eD
The Rice and Tracey modified model (16) is represented in
Fig. 8. A comparison between the two models (Figs. 6 and 8)
shows the strong difference induced by the hydrostatic
pressure.
3.1. Numerical modeling of crack initiation and
propagation
During the analysis, the initiation of crack is assumed to
occur at any point in the structure where the damage reaches
its critical value Dc. The crack propagation is simulated by
the propagation of a completely damaged area. From a
numerical point of view, the damage value is abruptly set
to the value DR (near the value 1). This method leads to the
decrease in the stiffness of the elements concerned. These
concepts are illustrated by Fig. 9 in which the propagation of
cracks is illustrated.
3.2. Damage model calibration for the mesh
Strain localization problems have been extensively studied by different authors in the eld of numerical simulations. The classical (local) rate-independent plasticity theory
lacks intrinsic length scale, which leads to the well-known
mesh-dependent pathology in numerical simulations.
In the conventional approach of fracture mechanics,
material failure occurring in crack tip process zone is
assumed to be governed by some stress eld and the crack
growth can be correled with these parameters. In this paper,
the continuum damage mechanics approach has been used to
describe the crack growth into the sheet during the blanking
process. In this approach, a crack propagation is modeled by
a completely damaged zone.
Mesh dependence in nite element analysis of crack
growth by continuum damage mechanics approach and its
regularization has been investigated by different authors
[2326]. The prediction of the crack initiation time, the
crack growth and the nal rupture time have been observed
to be sensitive to the size of nite element discretization. The

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

257

Fig. 8. Damage law evolution corresponding to HR model.

Fig. 9. Modeling of crack propagation.

mesh dependence phenomenon has been mainly attributed

to a consequence of the strain softening induced by the
presence of damage. The regularization method used in this
paper consists in calculating the damage law coefcients by
taking into account the mesh-size of the elements.
The strain energy just prior rupture in the case of a straight
bar subjected to uniform traction applied over its ends
(Fig. 10) is equals to
W WV

(19)

W indicates the strain energy density and V indicates the

material volume accumulating this energy. The strain energy
of the material is given by the area under the stressstrain
curve by:
Z eR
W
s de
(20)

release rate of the material Ws defined by:

Ws Wh

In the following, we consider the same tensile bar (Fig. 10)

discretized in a certain number of finite elements as shown in
Fig. 11.
In order to simplify calculation, we will consider that the
material is elastic perfectly with zero offset plastic strain, the
strain hardening law takes the form:
s < sel if e 0

(23a)

s sel if e eeq 6 0

(23b)

Eq. (20) can be written in the following form:

W WSh

(21)

where S indicates the cross-sectional area of the bar and h

(Fig. 10) the length of the zone which undergoes the
accumulation of the strain energy density.
In fracturing, the energy required to create a crack of
length h and width w can be determined using the energy

(22)

Fig. 10. Illustration of a bar under uniaxial loading.

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R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

Using Eqs. (25) and (30) we get

Ws Desy eR

(31)

Eq. (31) leads to the regulazed equivalent plastic strain at

rupture depending on the mesh-size as
eR reg

Ws
Desy

(32)

This value can be used in the finite element calculation. The

characteristic mesh-size De, can be computed as follows:

Fig. 11. Discretized tensile bar.

The strain energy of the material just prior to the rupture of a

finite element is given by:
Z eR
U
s de
(24)
0

Substituting Eq. (23b) into (24), the strain energy becomes

U sel eR

(25)

Therefore for one finite element of Ve volume, the strain

energy Ue can be written in the following form:
Ue UVe

(26)

According to Fig. 11, it can be written that:

Se bc and

Ve DeSe

To obtain the regulazed strain value (eD)reg, it is assumed

that the ratio between the experimental value eR and the
regulazed one (eR)reg is equal to the ratio between the
experimental value of the strain eD and the regulazed one:
eR reg
eR

eD reg

(33)

eD

This equation leads to

eD reg eR reg

(27)

Using Eqs. (26) and (27) we get

Ue UDeSe

1. In the case of 1D problems, De is equal to the length of

the finite element.
2. In the case of 2D problems, the value of De can be taken
equal to the square root of the area of the finite element.
3. In the case of 3D problems, the value of De can be taken
equal to the cube root of the volume of the finite
element.

eD
eR

(34)

(28)

Finally, it is assumed that the calibrated critical damage

value Dc is equal to the experimental ones obtained by a
tensile test.

(29)

4. Numerical simulation of a fine blanking operation

Then the energy release can be obtained as

Us UDe

The finite element model should allow the description of the

experimental behavior of the tensile bar, therefore we obtain
the following relation:
Ws Us

(30)

The application of the aforementioned theory, consists in

a simulation of an axisymetric ne blanking operation of a
metal sheet with 4 mm thickness. The geometrical data are
shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 12. Axisymetric model of fine blanking operation (clearance: 1%).

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

The mechanical characteristics of the material obtained

by a traction test are:
E 210 000 MPa;

n 0:3

The corresponding strain hardening law takes the non-linear

form:
s sel Keneq

(35)

with the values of: sel 198 MPa; K 780 MPa; n 0:25.
The rheological constants for the damage law associated
with the LMD model were found to be: eD 0; eR 0:9;
Dc 0:45.
4.1. Selection of the mesh
In this particular FEM simulation, the selection of the
mesh is of great importance because it must be suitable to
describe the phenomenon of crack initiation and propagation. Therefore rening the mesh in the clearance between
the punch and the die is essential throughout the thickness of
the sheet. Inside the regions where the material is not
subjected to high stress levels, a coarse mesh is sufcient.
The meshing of the model is carried out by means of 2130
quadrangular four node axisymmetric elements. Fig. 13
shows how the mesh has been constructed.

259

5. Results and discussion

In a simplied modeling, the ne blanking operation was
simulated without damage inuence. Using the developed
model, it is possible to simulate the punch penetration up to
100% of the sheet's thickness, in spite of a large mesh
distorsion.
When the material damage is taken into account, the
same penetration has been reached, but with a computing
time about 1.7 times greater. This increase in computing
time is caused by the numerical convergence. Effectively, it
will be obtained in difcult manner as the damage reaches
the critical value DR, at which damage nite element will
break.
Fig. 14a and b shows the damage distribution within the
sheet for a punch penetration about 25%. It can be observed
that the damage contours and the maximum values are
different (higher when using LMD model). When using
the proposed model, the calculation gives a damage distribution more localized in the punchdie clearance than
LMD model.
It can be seen that the more realistic description of the
process corresponds to the proposed damage model (HR
model). Indeed, in the case of LMD model, cracks initiates
in earlier stage at the cutting edges of the tool. Secondly, the

Fig. 13. Mesh used for the FE model.

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R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

Fig. 14. Damage distribution into the sheet (punch penetration: 25%).

cracks propagate very quickly. The nal rupture of the sheet

is obtained for a punch penetration of about 35% of the sheet
thickness. In the case of the proposed model which take into
account the inuence of hydrostatic compressive stress, the
simulation shows that there is no cracks propagation
(Fig. 15).
Due to the ring indenter penetration, the stress condition
in the shearing zone is compressive, therefore the cracks
cannot propagate into the sheet. As a result, the components
produced by ne blanking are found to have about 100%
shearing edge. According to the damage laws of Figs. 6 and
8, depending on the triaxiality value in the compressive
zone, the damage evolution is less important in the case of
the proposed model then Lemaitre one.

Fig. 15. Crack propagation into the sheet.

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

261

Fig. 16. Crack propagation vs. punch penetration.

Despite all non-linearities arising from contacts between

the sheet and the tools and elasto-plastic behavior of the
material, the results demonstrate reliability of the algorithm.
The material behavior have to be accurately known, especially in accounting for damage evolution and rupture
simulation. The curves plotted in Fig. 16 correspond to
the relative crack propagation evolution represented by
the actual sheet thickness value tact (Fig. 15) (expressed
in percent of the sheet thickness) vs. the punch penetration
obtained by the experiment and the simulations by applying
the two damage laws.
The results plotted in Fig. 16 shows that cracks initiate and
propagate in earlier stage when using LMD model. The
experiment results shows that there is no crack propagation
during the operation. By applying our model, the crack
initiation and propagation can accurately be predicted without computational divergence. From the moment of crack
initiation to the complete rupture of the sheet, experimental
and numerical results are in good agreement.
The two curves are sufciently close to conclude that
the procedure that we propose to simulate crack initiation
and propagation, gives good results. The resulting hydrostatic pressure corresponding to both damage models are
shown in Fig. 17a and b. In the case of LMD damage law, a
zone of hydrostatic tension (negative pressure) has developed in the clearance zone of the sheet (Fig. 17a). This is
due to the fact that voids created by element delation of the
broken ones, generate a tensile zone in the clearance. As a
consequence, the cracks propagate deep into the sheet
leading to a separate ne blanked part in an earlier stage.
When applying the proposed damage law, the hydrostatic
pressure distribution (Fig. 17b) is compressive (positive
pressure) near the cutting edges of the tool. The proposed
damage model is more representative of crack initiation
and propagation into the sheet as a consequence of reduced
damage in compression described by the damage law
(Eq. (18)).
The inuence of the hydrostatic pressure distribution on
the damage evolution of the cross-section in the sheet

clearance zone (distance x of Fig. 15) is illustrated in

Fig. 18. The resulting normalized hydrostatic pressure
and damage variations for both damage models are given.
The normalized hydrostatic pressure is given by
sH
sH normalized
(36)
sH max
where sH max 2006 MPa in the case of LMD model,
sH max 2180 MPa in the case of the proposed model.
As it can be seen, the hydrostatic pressure is compressive
when using the proposed damage model. As a consequence,
the damage is localized near the cutting edge of the tool and
have a very small value in the middle of the sheet thickness.
In the case of LMD model, the calculation shows that that
damage distribution into the sheet have a little variation.
Parts produced by conventional blanking have some
major drawbacks. The resulting edge will be clean cut
(smooth sheared surface) for approximately one-third of
the material thickness, and then have a rough break surface
for the remaining two-third of the material thickness. In
addition, the resulting springback will generate a concave
parts. This causes the dimensions of the sheared part to
deviate from the dimensions of the die, and residual curvature may reduce the atness of the workpiece.
While these conditions may be acceptable for certain
products, there are cases where atness, edge squareness
and edge condition are critical, for example gear teeth and
cam faces. These are areas where the ne blanking process
has the advantage. The key to ne blanking is the triple
acting hydraulic press. These presses are built to extreme
precision standards and have variable stroke lengths, counter
pressure, ring groove pressure and total force pressure. The
simple benets of the ne blanking process are:
 High surface finish on sheared edges thus eliminating
costly secondary operations.
 Closely controlled tolerances on holes and profiles.
 Consistent uniformity of parts.
 Optimum flatness.

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R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

Fig. 17. Contour of hydrostatic stress in the sheet (punch penetration: 25%).

Fig. 18. Damage and hydrostatic pressure evolution into the sheet.

R. Hambli / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 116 (2001) 252264

The main objective of the ne blanking process design is

to choose the process leading parameters in an optimal way
to ensure a high quality parts. Engineers are often required to
examine the process parameters in order to optimize production.
Inspection of the most recent studies in the eld of
manufacturing processes [1,3] shows that, despite the
increasing progress on ne blanking analysis, there is still
a lack of models allowing for the optimal design of the
process. Currently, correct parameter choice for a new
product manufactured by sheet metal blanking is obtained
empirically by performing a large number of expensive tests
in order to determine:






The size of the V-ring and its distance to the cutting line.
The force applied to the V-ring.
The clearance between the die and the punch.
The force applied to the counterpunch.
The force applied to the cutting punch.

The proposed nite element model including damage and

fracture prediction during the ne blanking process simulation, can be used in order to optimize the process and to
determine the optimal leading parameters to produce parts
with height quality.
6. Conclusion
In the case of numerical simulation of ne blanking
processes using the concept of the continuum damage
mechanics approach, the material behavior has to be accurately known, especially in accounting for damage evolution
and rupture.
In this work, LMD has been implemented in a nite
element code (ABAQUS/Standard) as well as a damage
model accumulation based on the Rice and Tracey ductile
fracture criterion allowing for the description of the exponential dependence on triaxiality.
The comparative study between the results obtained by
the simulations using the different damage models and the
experimental ones, showed that the LMDs are not able to
predict the fracture propagation path in a realistic way. Only
the exponential damage evolution that we propose gives
good results. From a numerical point of view, the proposed
damage model is more representative of crack initiation and
propagation simulation.
The crack initiation and propagation can be predicted
accurately without computational divergence from the
moment of crack initiation to the complete rupture of the
sheet-part. Throughout the process simulation, experimental
and numerical results are always in good agreement.
The results obtained by means of ABAQUS/Standard
routines, which account for the contact law between tool
and sheet and incremental computations strategy, give good
results compared to experimental ones. For relative punch
penetrations up to 100%.

263

From a practical point of view, the simulation can provide

useful information about the inuence of the leading parameter of the ne blanking process on the quality of the
extern of the blanked parts.

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