Cairo University

Faculty of Engineering
Mining, Petroleum and Metallurgy Department
4th Year Metallurgy

Plastic Metal Forming of

Metals and
Powders
LECTURE 4
By Dr. Ahmed Hatem Al-Khoribi
• Sheet Metal Forming (Working)

• The process of applying compressive forces to a

sheet metal. It is performed between two dies. The
top die is called a punch. Sometimes sheet metal
parts are referenced to as stampings.
• Parts are usually economical and easy to mass
produce. Sheet metal working is usually performed
cold.
• Generally for sheet metal applications, there is
essentially no change, or negligible change, in
sheet thickness. Sheet metal manufacturing
produces parts that typically have high strength,
good surface, and accurate tolerances.
• It is a compressive process performing between a
set of opposing dies.
• A Sheet metal is a metal that has a high surface
area to volume ratio. Sheet metal work stock,
used for sheet metal processes, is usually
formed by rolling and comes in coils.
• A Sheet metal is 6 mm or less in thickness.

Figure shows a sheet metal.

• Products made by sheet metal working
include:

1. Manufacture of cars, trains, and aircrafts

components.
2. Farm equipments, office equipments,
furniture, and house appliances.
3. Computers and machine components and
beverage cans.
• Note: It is important to distinguish between sheet
and plate. Sheet metal is 6 mm or less in thickness
while plate is over 6 mm in thickness. Sheet and
plate have different applications. Some of the sheet
metal manufacturing processes may be applicable to
plate metal as well even though the work piece is
referenced only as sheet metal. However, for many
sheet metal operations, difficulties will arise with
increasing plate thickness. Usually "sheet" and
"sheet metal" is also referencing plate.
• There are 4 major classes of processes of sheet
metal working:
1. Cutting: Cutting is the use of shearing forces to
remove material from a work piece.
Technically not a metal forming process, but of
extreme industrial importance.
2. Deep Drawing: Deep drawing is the forming of
a cup or box with a flat base and straight walls,
from a sheet metal blank.
3. Bending: Bending is the forming of a sheet
metal work about an axis.
4. Ironing: Ironing is used to achieve a uniform
wall thickness in deep drawings.
• Sheet Metal Cutting
• Cutting operations involve the separation of the
metal of the sheet in certain areas.
• This separation is caused by shearing forces
acting on the metal through the edges of the
punch and die.
• There several types of sheet metal cutting such
as straight cutoff, punching (slotting), and
blanking.
• Straight Cutoff
• A punch separates a length of stock along a
straight line. Industrial sheet metal cutting
operations such as this will usually incline the
punch so as to reduce the maximum force
needed by distributing the required force over
the cutting stroke.
• The angle that the punch may be inclined varies
from 4 to 15 degrees. However, the higher the
angle, the greater the magnitude of the
horizontal force component acting to displace the
work. For that reason angles are usually under 9
degrees.
• The metal sheet is fed through after each cutoff
and the process can be repeated very quickly.
• The following figure shows straight cutoff.
• Punching (Slotting)

• Punching is also a basic sheet metal cutting

process that has many different forms and
applications.
• Punching involves cutting out a piece of
material from a metal sheet. The material
removed may be round or some other shape.
This excess metal, once punched out, is called a
slug and is usually discarded as scrap.
• Slotting is a type of punching operation.
Slotting refers specifically to the punching of
rectangular or elongated holes.
• The following figure shows punching.
• Blanking
• Blanking is the cutting of a sheet metal part
along a closed contour in one step. The piece
cut out is called a blank and may be further
processed. Many blanks are often continuously
cut out of a sheet or strip. Blanking will waste a
certain amount of material
• A distinction should be made between the two
sheet metal cutting processes of blanking and
punching since essentially they are the same
process.
• In punching, the piece cut out is waste. In
blanking, the piece cut out is the work and is
kept.
• The following figure shows blanking.
• Deep Drawing
• Deep drawing is a manufacturing process that is
used extensively in the forming of sheet metal
into cup or box like structures.
• Pots and pans for cooking, containers, sinks, and
automobile parts, such as panels and gas tanks,
are among a few of the items manufactured
by sheet metal deep drawing.
• A basic deep drawing operation could be the
forming of a flat sheet into a three dimensional
cup, or a box. The shape of a deep drawn part is
not limited to a circle or square, more complex
contours are possible.
• For the primary sheet metal deep drawing
process the part will have a flat base and straight
sides.
• The following figures show steps of deep
drawing.
• Deep drawing of sheet metal is performed with a
punch and die. The punch is the desired shape of
the base of the part once drawn. The die cavity
matches the punch and is a little wider to allow
for its passage as well as clearance. This setup is
similar to sheet metal cutting operations.
• The sheet metal work piece, called a blank, is
placed over the die opening. A blank holder, that
surrounds the punch, applies pressure to the
entire surface of the blank (except the area under
the punch) holding the sheet metal work flat
against the die.
• The punch travels towards the blank. After
contacting the work, the punch forces the sheet
metal into the die cavity forming its shape.
• Sheet Metal Bending
• Bending of sheet metal is a common and vital
process in manufacturing industry. Sheet
metal bending is the plastic deformation of
the work over an axis creating a change in the
part's geometry.
• For most operations, however, bending will
produce essentially no change in the thickness
of the sheet metal.
• In addition to creating a desired geometric
form, bending is also used to increase
strength and stiffness of sheet metal, for
cosmetic appearance, and to eliminate sharp
edges.
• One of the most common types of sheet
metal manufacturing processes is V bending.
• The V shaped punch forces the work into the
V shaped die and hence bends it.
• This type of process can bend both very acute
and very obtuse angles, also anything in
between including 90 degrees.
• Ironing of Sheet Metal
• It is a manufacturing process that is mostly used to
achieve a uniform wall thickness in deep drawings.
Variation in wall thickness often exists in parts
produced by deep drawing.
• Ironing of sheet metal can be incorporated into a
deep drawing process or can be performed separately.
A punch and die pushes the part through a clearance
that will act to reduce the entire wall thickness to a
certain value.
• Note: Clearance is defined as the space
between the punch and the die. Clearance in
cutting operations is relatively small, usually
3% to 8% of sheet metal thickness. In deep
drawing manufacture, if the clearance is too
small, the sheet may be cut or pierced (which
is undesirable) despite the radius. Clearance in
deep drawing manufacture is greater than
sheet thickness where clearance values are
107% to 115% of sheet thickness.