This document summarizes key concepts from a lecture on sheet metal forming processes. It discusses sheet metal cutting techniques like straight cutoff, punching, and blanking. It also describes deep drawing, which uses a punch and die to form a cup or box shape from a sheet metal blank. Bending is covered, where sheet metal is formed around an axis, as well as ironing to achieve uniform wall thickness in deep drawn parts. Common applications of sheet metal forming include automotive and appliance manufacturing.
This document summarizes key concepts from a lecture on sheet metal forming processes. It discusses sheet metal cutting techniques like straight cutoff, punching, and blanking. It also describes deep drawing, which uses a punch and die to form a cup or box shape from a sheet metal blank. Bending is covered, where sheet metal is formed around an axis, as well as ironing to achieve uniform wall thickness in deep drawn parts. Common applications of sheet metal forming include automotive and appliance manufacturing.
This document summarizes key concepts from a lecture on sheet metal forming processes. It discusses sheet metal cutting techniques like straight cutoff, punching, and blanking. It also describes deep drawing, which uses a punch and die to form a cup or box shape from a sheet metal blank. Bending is covered, where sheet metal is formed around an axis, as well as ironing to achieve uniform wall thickness in deep drawn parts. Common applications of sheet metal forming include automotive and appliance manufacturing.
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.