Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols.

110-116 (2012) pp 2723-2729

Online available since 2011/Oct/24 at www.scientific.net
© (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.110-116.2723

Forming Force Analysis in Fine-blanking Process by Experimental

Approach and Analytical Formulation
Vahid Daeizadeh1, a, Majid Elyasi2,b and Meghdad Mollaei3,c
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Islamic Azad University, Savadkooh branch Savadkooh, Iran
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Babol Noshirvani University of Technology Babol, Iran
3Technical Manager Andisheh Industrial GroupBabolsar, Iran
a
vdaeezadeh@yahoo.com, b elyasima@yahoo.com, c hm1139@yahoo.com

Keywords: fine-blanking force; material tensile strength; initial blank thickness

Abstract. Large deformation is a major deformation operation in many metal-forming processes,

such as forging, rolling, extrusion, stamping and fine-blanking. It is difficult to study the
deformation changes in these processes in a practical way, through the measurement of forces, due
to the severe and localized nature of plastic deformation such as in the fine-blanking operation.
Therefore, the forces analysis of most metal-forming processes cannot be carried out successfully
by experiments. Thus, this paper aims to present the development of an effective process of forces
measurement in fine-blanking process. Also, the effect of blank geometry and material properties
on forming force in fine-blanking process was studied by theoretical formulation and experimental
approach. Tensile strength and initial blank thickness were considered in this research. The obtained
results indicated that by increasing the initial blank thickness and the tensile strength, the forces in
fine-blanking process is increased.

Introduction
In sheet metal forming processes, the forces and forming limit are affected by a number of
factors, such as material properties and tool design. Fine-blanking is such a metal forming process
in which the punch penetrates entirely into sheet metal material and the blanked part exhibits a high
degree of dimensional accuracy and a smooth surface. This process is usually applied to produce
precise parts such as components of watches, automobiles and measuring instruments [1-3].
Some researchers focused on the fine-blanking process. Thipprakmas et al. [3] have studied the
geometry and position of vee-ring indenter in fine-blanking process using Taguchi method. They
concluded that the influence of each vee-ring indenter parameter on the smooth shear surface and
cracks of the fine-blanked surface, together with their calculated percentage contributions. The vee-
ring indenter height and position, with their approximately calculated percentage contributions of
40%, have a major influence on the fine-blanking process, followed by the vee-ring indenter angle.
Kwak et al. [4] have studied the effect of die clearance on shear planes in fine-blanking process
using finite element analysis. They found that die-roll width and depth of the shear plane increase
with increasing die clearance.
Fan et al. [5] have examined the damage of AISI-1045 and AISI-1025 steels in fine blanking
with negative clearance. They concluded that the damage value of negative clearance blanking is
lower than that of conventional blanking and the better material plasticity, the lower the damage
value, the better blanking quality. In this paper, the effect of the blank thickness and tensile strength
on forces in fine-blanking process was studied by theoretical formulation and experimental
approach.

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2724 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE2011

Gometry of Workpiece
The schematic of workpiece is illustrated in “Fig. 1”. The feasibility of producing a flat part by
the fine-blanking process is determined by the geometrical shape of the part and the thickness and
strength of the material. These three factors determine whether production by fine blanking can be
rated as simple, medium-difficult, difficult or impossible.
The geometrical shape consists of features such as gear teeth, holes, ring walls, radiuses, slots,
etc. Each of these features can be rated in a progressive order of difficulty, according to the
numerical values of its dimensions. The next factor in difficulty rating is the thickness of the
material. The thicker the sheet, the higher the difficulty rating of the part feature concerned. The
third factor in rating the difficulty of the part is the strength of the material.
The part material is CK15 and its chemical composition is given in “Table 1”. Also, the material
properties are listed in “Table 2”.

Fig. 1.Schematic illustration of workpiece.

TABLE I. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION (WT, %) OF THE CK15 WORKPIECE

Element %
C 0.12-0.18
Si 0.15-0.35
Mn 0.3-0.6
P 0.035
S 0.035
Fe Base

TABLE II. MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF THE CK15 WORKPIECE

Parameter Value
Tensile Stress (MPa) 415
Elongation (%) 31

Application of the TheOretical Formulation in Fine Blanking

The forming of fine-blanking is divided into different forces. Fine-blanking presses are triple-
acting machines, in which the vee-ring force and counterforce are generated hydraulically, and the
main blanking force can be either mechanical or hydraulic [7].
The blanking force FS , which is dependent on the total developed length of the part, the sheet
thickness and the tensile strength of the material, can be calculated as follows [7]:
FS=L.S.Rm.f1 (1)
Where L is the developed length of blanked (mm), S is the material thickness (mm), Rm is the
maximum tensile strength (N/ mm2), FS is the blanking force (N) and f1 is the empirical factor.
The factor f1 is from 0.6 to 0.9. It depends on the elastic limit/tensile strength ratio of the
material for annealed steels it is in the lower part of the range, for harder steels it reaches 0.9. This
factor and thus the blanking factor, is further affected by the geometrical form of the part, the
effectiveness of lubrication, and the sharpness of the active elements in the tool.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 110-116 2725

The edges of the vee-ring penetrate into the material by the force FR. The value of the vee-ring
force can be written as following [7]:
FR=LR.h.Rm.f2 (2)
Where FR is the vee-ring force, LR is the developed length of vee-ring, h is the height of vee-ring
and f2 is the empirical factor.
The factor f2 is evaluated according to the general shape of the vee-ring.
In order to minimize bending of the part and have a suitable flatness, the material is constantly
pressed against the force of the punch by the counterforce FG. The value of the counterforce force
can be written as following [7]:
FG=AS. qG (3)
Where FG is the counterforce (N), AS is the surface area acted on by ejector (mm2) and qG is the
specific counterforce (N/mm2).
Fine blanking presses apply a total force Ft made up of the three separate forces which have just
been described in detail [7]:
Ft= FS+ FR+ FG (4)

Experimental Conditions
A cold rolled CK15 was selected for the experiment material and its tensile strength is 415MPa.
CK15 is used widely in manufacturing industry for ordinary press parts of precision machine,
automobile, medical instrument and others. The schematic of die and its componenents is illustrated
in “Fig. 2”. “Fig. 3(a)” shows the fine-blanking die-set that was designed and manufactured for
producing the workpiece. “Fig. 3(b)” shows the die-set mounted on the test machine. For carrying
out the tests, a fine-blanking press with 160 tonnages was used in the experiment. The punch speed
was 40 strokes/min and the vee-ring indenter force and counter force was set at 155 and 16kN,
respectively.
The initial blank was fed into the press by a feeder. The width of the initial blank was 47mm for
workpiece “Fig. 1(a)” and 39mm for workpiece “Fig. 1(b)”. The process parameters which used in
the experiments are listed in “Table 3”.

Fig. 2.Schematic of fine-blanking die-set and its componenet.

2726 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE2011

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3.(a) The fine-blanking die-set, (b) the die-set mounted on the fine-blanking press.

TABLE III. PROCESS PAREMETERS

Parameter Value
Punch Clearance 0.4%t
Height of the Vee-ring Indenter 0.8mm
Position of the Vee-ring Indenter 2.8mm
Angle of the Vee-ring Indenter 90°
Thickness of Blank 3.8mm
Punch Speed 40 strokes/min

Results and Discussions

Theoretical analysis was applied to determine the effect of the workpiece thickness on blanking
force. The results were compared to those of experimental.
In “Fig. 4”, the workpiece obtained from experiment is illustrated. As it can be seen from the
figure, the workpiece produced soundly.
The forming force versus blank thickness is shown in “Fig. 5”. It can be seen from the figure that
by increasing the blank thickness, the forming force increases. “Fig. 6” shows the total force versus
blank thickness. It is obvious that the forces will increase when the blank thickness increases. Since
vee-ring force and counterforce is added to the forming force the value of total force in “Fig. 6” is
increased sharply.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 110-116 2727

To investigate the effect of tensile strength on forces, theoretical calculation was conducted.
Three different values of tensile strength were considered and the forces of the workpiece were
compared. The forming force and total force versus tensile strength are shown in “Figs. 7 and 8”,
respectively. In order to analyze the effect of tensile strength on forces, CK45 and St37 were
selected in this research.
As shown in the “Fig. 7”, the forming force increases with increasing of tensile strength. In
addition, the total force increases with increasing of tensile strength according to “Fig. 8”.
In all results obtained in this research it is seen that the value of experimental results are higher
than theoretical results. It concluded that without considering parameters like friction and lateral
forces this difference will occur.

Fig. 4.Deformed workpiece obtained from experiments.

400
Theoretical
Experiment
300
Fs (kN)

200

100

0
0 2 4 6 8
S (mm)

Fig. 5.Variation of forming force according to blank thickness.

600

500

400
Ft (kN)

300

200 Theoretical

100 Experiment

0
0 2 4 6 8
S (mm)

Fig. 6.Variation of total force according to blank thickness.

2728 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE2011

300

200

Fs (kN)
100
Theoretical
Experiment

0
300 400 500 600
Rm (N/mm2)

Fig. 8.Variation of forming force according to tensile strength.

600

500

400
Ft (kN)

300

200 Theoretical

100 Experiment

0
300 400 500 600
2
Rm (N/mm )

Fig. 9.Variation of total force according to tensile strength.

Conclusions
The following results were obtained in this study:
Forming force increases with increasing of blank thickness and tensile strength. In addition, total
force increases with increasing of blank thickness and tensile strength. Also, the effect of blank
thickness and tensile strength is more significant in total force than that of forming force.
There are some parameters applied in experimental process which are not considered in
theoretical calculation. Therefore the results of experimental values are higher than that of
theoretical values.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Andisheh Industrial Group for the provision of valuable
information and product data.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 110-116 2729

References

[1] Z.H. Chen, C.Y. Tang, T.C. Lee, “An investigation of tearing failure in fine-blanking process
using coupled thermo-mechanical method,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology,
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture, vol. 44, 2004, pp. 155–165.
[2] S. Thipprakmas, “Finite element analysis of V-ring indenter mechanism in fine-blanking
process,” Materials and Design, vol. 30, 2009, pp. 526-531.
[3] S. Thipprakmas, “Application of Taguchi technique to investigation of geometry and position
of V-ring indenter in fine-blanking process,” Materials and Design, vol. 31, 2010, pp. 2496-
2500.
[4] T.S. Kwak, Y.J. Kim and W.B. Bea, “Finite element analysis on the effect of die clearance on
shear planes in fine blanking,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology, vol. 130-131,
2002, pp. 462-468.
[5] W.F. Fan and J.H. Li, “An investigation on the damage of AISI-1045 and AISI-1025 steels in
fine-blanking with negative clearance,” Materials Science and Engineering A, vol. 499, 2009,
pp. 248-251.
[6] K. Lange, F. Birzer and H. Singer, “Cold forming and fineblanking,” ISBN 3-444-10510-X, ,
1st ed., vol. 1, 1997, pp.160–165.
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE2011
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.110-116

Forming Force Analysis in Fine-Blanking Process by Experimental Approach and Analytical

Formulation
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.110-116.2723