Sheet Metal Design

By
MSMTC
What is Sheet Metal?
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Usually, the sheet metal work pieces are made
from the metal coils or blanks, as shown in the
following figures


What are the common sheet metal
Operations?
Sheet Metal operations are basically
divided in to two.

1. Cutting Processes

2. Plastic Deformation Process
What are the cutting processes in
sheet metal parts?
1. Shearing.
2. Blanking.
3. Piercing or Punching.
4. Parting.
5. Lancing.
6. Shaving.


1.Shearing:- Involves the flat cutting from the sheet, plate or
strip. The process may be classified by the type of
blade or cutter used whether straight or rotary.
2.Blanking:- Involves cutting the material to a closed counter by
subjecting it to shear stresses between punch and
die. In this process the slug is usually the work part
and remainder is scrap.
3.Piercing or Punching:-
Is the cutting operation by which various shaped
holes are sheared in the blank. In punching the
sheared slug is discarded, and material that
surrounds the punch is the component produced.
4.Parting:- Consist of cutting the sheet in to two or more pieces,
or removal of pieces of scrapes of various shapes
from deep drawn/formed pieces. Unlike cut off the
operation of parting results some scrap production.
5.Lancing:- Is an operation in which a single line cut is made part
way across the work material. No material is
removed, so that there is no scrap.
6.Shaving:- Is a cutting operation, that improves the quality and
accuracy of blanked parts by removing a thin strip of
metal along the edges. Only about 100 microns(0.004
inches) of materials are removed by shaving.

What are the plastic deformation
processes in sheet metal parts?
1. Bending.
2. Twisting.
3. Curling.
4. Deep Drawing.
5. Spinning.
6. Stretch Forming.
7. Necking.
8. Bulging.
9. Flanging.
1. Bending:- Consist of uniformly straining the flat sheets or
strips of metal around a linier axis. Metal on the out
side the bend is stressed in tension beyond the
elastic limit. Metal on the inside bend is compressed.
2. Twisting:- Is the process straining flat strip of metal around
the longitudinal axis.
3. Curling:- Forming a rounded, folded back or beaded edge on
thin metal parts or strips for the purposes of
stiffening and for providing smooth rounded edge.
4. Deep Drawing:-
Forming a flat sheet of metal blank in to cylindrical
or box shaped by means of a punch that forces the
blank in to a die cavity. Drawing may be performed
with or without a reduction in thickness of the
metal.
5. Spinning:- Is a process forming a work piece from a circular
blank or form a length of tube. All parts produced
by spinning are symmetrical about a central axis.
6. Stretch Forming:-
Is producing contoured parts by stretching a metal
sheet, strips or profile over a shaped block form.
7. Necking:- Is an operation by which the top of the cup may be
made smaller than its body.
8. Bulging:- A process that involves placing tubular,
conical or curvilinear parts in a split female
die and expanding it with say a polyurethane
plug.
9. Flanging:- Is a hole making process that is performed
on a flat stalk. The term Flanging in the
sense refers to the forming of a flange on a
flat part by drawing stock out of previously
made hole.
Characteristics of Sheet Metal Parts
and their Technological Properties.
The designers of product made from sheet metal have a huge
responsibility and liability to invent the exact design that will result
in optimum production considering the complexity of the
technological factors, the kind and number of operations, the
production equipments (machines and tools) required, the material
expenses and the quantity and quality of the material.
It is necessary to design technical components and operations so as
to fulfill the product specification optimally. The design of the part is
adequate if it combines the most satisfactory quality.
To arrive best and economical product, the following parameters
must be observed,
1. A process resulting in minimum production of scrap.
2. Using standard equipments and machines wherever possible
3. The minimum possible number of operations and relatively lower
skilled workers.

Design Considerations.
Blanking
Corners should have a minimum radius of 0.5 x material thickness
or 0.4 mm (0.016in) whichever is greater. Sharper corners can be
produced but at a greater die maintenance costs and more burrs.
Slots or tabs widths should be greater than 1.5 X stock thickness.
The length can be a maximum of 5 times slot/tab width.
These rules can be violated at an increased tooling cost-- width as
low as 1 X thickness and length as high as 7 X thickness can be
achieved.
Cont
On cutoffs, avoid full radiuses across the width of stock. A
square cut-off is best. If a radius is necessary, then an
angle-blended radius is best.
Piercing is the operation of cutting internal features (holes or
slots) in stock. Piercing can also be combined with other
operations such as lance and form (to make a small feature
such as tab), pierce and extrude (to make an extruded hole).
All these operations can be combined with blanking
Piercing of all the holes is best done together to ensure good
hole-to-hole tolerance and part repeatability. However if the
material distorts, the method described below can be done.

Design Consideration- Piercing
Minimum hole diameter should be at least 20 % greater
than stock thickness. In the case of stainless steels, it
should be 2 times the material thickness

Minimum wall thickness (distance from hole to edge or
hole to hole) should be at least 2 times stock thickness

For non-round slots, the minimum wall thickness should
be 2 times thickness for short slots < 10 thicknesses
long; and 4 times thickness for long slots > 10
thicknesses long.

Minimum hole (and short slot) to bend distance should
be 2.5 the stock thickness + bend radius.

For long slots, the distance should be 4 the stock
thickness + bend radius.
Design Consideration- Piercing
Burrs: Burrs are the normal by product of the stamping
process. Burrs are often not acceptable, usually for safety
reasons, either for handling or for product safety (burrs
cutting into insulation, or mechanical chafing). Another
reason could be to improve surface appearance-
discoloration from welding/brazing, oxidation, scale from
heat treatment etc.

A normal burr from well-maintained tools is usually less
than 10% of material thickness. If burrs are not
acceptable (burr-free requirement), then deburring needs
to be done. Typically deburring results in a rounded edge
with a radius of 0.05 to 0.075 mm (0.002 to 0.003 in).
Deburring: Deburring is done by tumbling parts in a
barrel or a vibratory bowl, along with finishing media.
Ceramic media is often used for steels. For softer
materials, plastic media, walnut shells etc can be used.
This type of deburring is usually confined to unfinished
materials. For materials that are already finished, such as
pre-plated or pre-painted materials bulk deburring
operations are not suitable, because the deburring will
remove the finish along with the burrs. For these
materials, other forms of deburring such as belt sanding
or hand filing will have to be done with the associated
higher costs.
Deburring can be avoided by considering the direction of
the burrs in the design of the parts. If the burrs will be in
a non-accessible area or will be folded later, then
deburring can be avoided
Tooling Considerations Cutting Dies.
Optimum clearance (total = per side 2) should be from
20 to 25% of the stock thickness. This can be increased to
30% to increase die life.
Punch life can be extended by sharpening whenever the
punch edge becomes 0.125 mm (0.005 in) radius.
Frequent sharpening extends the life of the tool, cuts
down on the punch force required. Sharpening is done by
removing only 0.025 to 0.05 mm (0.001 to 0.002 in) of the
material in one pass with a surface grinder. This is
repeated until the tool is sharp. If it is done frequently
enough, only 0.125 to 0.25 mm (0.005 to 0.010 in) of the
punch material is removed.
Grinding is to be done with the proper wheel for the tool
steel in question. Consult with the abrasive manufacturer
for proper choice of abrasive material, feeds and speeds,
and coolant.
Cont
After sharpening the edge is to be lightly stoned to
remove grinding burrs and end up with a 0.025 to 0.05
mm (0.001 to 0.002 in) radius. This will reduce the
chance of chipping
Punching Force: Punching can be done without shear or
with shear.

Punching without shear. This is the case where the entire
punch surface strikes the material square, and the
complete shear is done along the entire cutting edge of
the punch at the same time. Punching Force = Punch
Perimeter Stock thickness Material Shear Strength.


e.g.,
Punch Diameter = 25 mm (1 in),
Circumference = 78.54 mm (3.092 in)
Thickness = 1.5 mm, (0.060 in)
Material Shear Strength (Steel) = 0.345 kN/mm2 (25
tons/in2)
Punching Force = 78.54 1.5 0.345 (3.09 0.060 25)
= 40.65 kN (4.64 tons)
= 4.14 Metric Tons
Punching with shear. This is the case where the punch
surface penetrates the material in the middle, or at the
corners, first, and as the punch descends the rest of the
cutting edges contact the material and shear the material.
The distance between the first contact of the punch with
the material, to when the whole punch starts cutting, is
the Shear Depth. Since the material is cut gradually (not
all at the same time initially), the tonnage requirement is
reduced considerably
The Punching Force calculated above is multiplied by a
shear factor, which ranges in value form 0.5 to 0.9
depending on the material, thickness, and shear depth.
For shear depths of 1.5 mm (0.060 in) the shear factor
ranges from 0.5 (for 1.2 mm / 0.047 in stock) to 0.9 (for
6.25 mm / 0.25 in stock). For shear depth of 3 mm (0.120
in) the shear factor is 0.5.
Punching Force = Punch Perimeter Stock thickness
Material Shear Strength Shear Factor.
Since shear factor is about 0.5, the Punching Force is
reduced by about 50%.
For the same example above,
Punching Force = 78.54 1.5 0.345 (3.09 0.060
25) 0.5 (Shear Factor)
= 40.65 kN (4.64 tons) 0.5
= 2.07 Metric Tons
The operations associated with stamping are
blanking, piercing, bending, forming, and
drawing.
These operations are done with dedicated
tooling also known as hard tooling. This type of
tooling is used to make high volume parts of
one configuration of part design. (By contrast,
soft tooling is used in processes such as CNC
turret presses, laser profilers and press brakes).
All these operations can be done either at a
single die station or multiple die stations
performing a progression of operations, known
as a progressive die.
Bending is a process by which metal can be deformed by
plastically deforming the material and changing its shape.
The material is stressed beyond the yield strength but
below the ultimate tensile strength. The surface area of
the material does not change much. Bending usually
refers to deformation about one axis.
Air Bending is done with the punch touching the work
piece and the work piece, not bottoming in the lower
cavity. This is called air bending. As the punch is released,
the work piece ends up with less bend than that on the
punch (greater included angle). This is called spring-back.
The amount of spring back depends on the material,
thickness, grain and temper. The spring back usually
ranges from 5 to 10 degrees. Usually the same angle is
used in both the punch and the die to minimize setup
time. The inner radius of the bend is the same as the
radius on the punch

Bottoming or Coining is the bending process where
the punch and the work piece bottom on the die. This
makes for a controlled angle with very little spring
back. The tonnage required on this type of press is
more than in air bending. The inner radius of the work
piece should be a minimum of 1 material thickness in
the case of bottoming; and up to 0.75 material
thickness, in the case of coining
Design Consideration- Bending
On bends, the short leg (inside length) should
be a minimum of 2.5 X stock thickness + radius.







Minimum hole (and short slot) to bend distance should be
2.5 X the stock thickness + bend radius. For long slots, the
distance should be 4 X the stock thickness + bend radius










Bending using tight radiuses or in hard materials often
results in burrs and fractures on the outside of the bends.
These can be eliminated by using larger bend radiuses and
by providing relief notches at the edges on the bend line.
Bend relief notches should be provided = 2 X stock
thicknesses in width (minimum 1.5mm / 0.060 in) and
radius + stock thickness in length.
Generally, bending perpendicular to rolling direction is easier than
rolling parallel to the rolling direction. Bending parallel to the rolling
direction can often lead to fracture in hard materials.

Thus bending parallel to rolling direction is not recommended for
cold rolled steel > Rb 70. And no bending is acceptable for cold
rolled steel > Rb 85.

Hot rolled steel can be bent parallel to the rolling direction.
Spring back is defined as the elastic recovery of
the material after unloading of the tools. Spring
back results in a dimensional change in the bent
part.
In general, manufacturers are interested in the final
dimensions of the products; therefore, the angle after
unloading is the main parameter to control in sheet metal
bending. The major methods used to reduce spring back
or control the unloaded bend angle can be listed as
follows:
Bendability (the smallest achievable bending radius
without failure) of materials is improved by heating or
application of hydrostatic pressure. Cracking can also be
eliminated by inducing compression in the bending
direction. Bendability of narrow sheet is higher than wide
sheets. Narrow sheets are observed to crack usually at
the edges, while wide sheets tend to crack at the center.