Sheet-metal parts are classified into five categories depending upon the contour of the

finished part

1.Singly curved parts

2.Contoured flanged parts-including parts with stretch flanges and shrink flange
3. Curved Sections
4. Deep-recessed parts-including cups and boxes with either vertical or sloping walls
5. Shallow-recessed parts-including dish-shaped, beaded, embossed, and corrugated parts

Singly curved Stretch flange

Shrink flange Curved Sections

Deep-Drawn Cup Beaded Section

Sheet forming is carried out generally in the plane of the sheet by tensile forces.

The application of compressive forces in the plane of the sheet is avoided because it leads to
buckling, folding and wrinkling of the sheet.

In bulk-forming processes the intention is often to change the thickness or lateral dimensions of
the work-piece, while in sheet-forming processes decreases in thickness should be avoided as
there are chances for necking and failure to occur.

Presses in sheet-metal forming

Most high-production-volume sheet-metal forming is done on a press driven by either

mechanical or hydraulic action.

In the mechanical presses energy stored in the flywheel is transferred to the movable slide on
the downstroke of the press.

Mechanical presses are quick-acting and have short stroke while hydraulic presses are slower-
acting and have longer stroke.

Presses are classified according to the number of slides which can be operated independently of
each other.
Single Action Press
There is only one slide, generally
operating in the vertical direction.

Double Action Press

There are two slides. The second
action ordinarily is used to operate
the hold-down, which prevents
wrinkling in deep drawing.

Triple action presss

Equipped with two actions above
the die and one action below the
die.
Progressive forming
In this process successive stages in the forming of the part are carried out in the same die on
each stroke of the press.

Simple example is a progressive blanking and piercing the die to make a plain, flat washer.

As the strip is fed from left to right, the hole for the washer is first punched and then
the washer is blanked from the strip.

While the washer is being blanked from the strip the punch is piercing the hole for
the next washer.
Rubber hydroforming (Guerin process)

A pad of rubber or polyurethane serves as the die.

A form block(punch) is fastened to the bed of a single-action hydraulic process, and a thick
blanket of rubber is placed in a retainer box on the upper platen of the press.

Process
When a blank is placed over the form block and the rubber forced down on the sheet, the
rubber transmits a nearly uniform hydrostatic pressure against the sheet.

A unit pressure of 10 MPa is sufficient for most parts, and higher local pressure can be
provided by auxillary tooling.
Verson- Wheelon process
In this process a soft rubber bag subjected to internal fluid pressure is used.

Complicated and deeper shapes can be produced using this process when compared to
Guerin process because the forming pressure is four to five times greater than that used in
latter.

Limitations of Hydroforming
The production of shrink flanges is limited because rubber provides little resistance to
wrinkling.
The blank tends to move on the form block unless holes for positioning pins are provided in
the part.

Applications of Rubber Hydroforming:

Used extensively in the aircraft industry.
Shallow flanged parts with stretch flanges are readily produced by this method.
Production of cylindrical and conical-shaped parts
These parts are produced using bending rolls.

(1)A three- roll bender – Gives a curvature to a sheet, a bar or section by passing it
between two or three cylindrical rolls that can be adjusted.

Three roll bender is not very well suited for for preventing buckling in thin-gage sheet.
Often a fourth roll is placed at the exit to provide an extra adjustment in curvature.

Limitations of metal forming by three-roll bender

The maximum bending moment is at the midpoint of the span. The localization of strain can
result, under certain circumstances, in the forming limit being achieved at the midpoint
before the rest of the part is bent to the proper contour.
(2)Wiper-type benders

More uniform deformation along the length of the part is obtained using wiper type
benders.

It consists of a sheet which is clamped at one end against a form block; the contour is
progressively formed by successive hammer blows, starting near the clamp and moving a
short distance towards the free end with each blow.

In this case the form block or die has a non uniform contour so that wiper rolls must be
pressed against the block with a uniform pressure supplied by hydraulic cylinder.

(3)Wrap Forming

The sheet is compressed against a form block, and at the same time a longitudinal tensile
stress is applied to prevent buckling and wrinkling.
Methods to bend or to contour form straight sections (contd..)

Wrap forming

Stretch draw forming

In this process the sheet is compressed against a form block, and at the same time
longitudinal tensile stress is applied to prevent buckling or wrinkling.

Simple example of wrap forming is the coiling of a spring around mandrel. The stretch
forming of curved sections is a special case of wrap forming.
Stretch forming is used to form aerospace parts from steel, Ni, Al and Ti alloys and other heat-
resistant and refractory metals. This process is also used to shape automotive body panels,
both inner and outer, and frame members that could be formed by other
processes but at higher cost. ASM Handbook Vol14-B
 Spinning-Method of making tank heads, television cones, and other deep parts of circular
symmetry

In this process the metal blank(circular) is clamped against a form block which is rotated at high
speed.

The blank is progressively formed against the block, either with a manual tool or by means of
small-diameter work rolls.

In this process the blank thickness does not change but its diameter is decreased.
Spinning-continued
Shear-Spinning

Variant of conventional spinning.

In this process the part diameter is the same as the blank diameter but the thickness of the
spun part is reduced according to t=t0sinα.

This process is also known as power spinning, flowturning, and hydrospinning.

It is used for large axisymmetrical conical or curvilinear shapes such as rocket-motor casings
and missile nose cones.
Tube Spinning
The third variation of spinning in which the tube is reduced in wall thickness by spinning
on a mandrel. The spinning tool can operate on either the outside or inside diameter of
the tube.

Explosive forming
In this process the sheet-metal blank is placed over a die cavity and an explosive charge is
detonated in water at an appropriate stanoff distance from the blank.

The shock Wave propagating from the explosion serves as a “friction-less punch” to
deform the blank.
Shearing and Blanking

Shearing is the process by which a metal is separated by moving blades.

Shearing and Blanking

In this process, a narrow strip of metal is severely plastically deformed to the point where it
fractures at the surfaces in contact with the blades.

The fracture propagates inside the metal to cause complete separation.

Depth of penetration of the punch for complete shearing

The depth to which punch must penetrate to cause complete shearing depends upon the
ductility of the material.

Brittle materials : The depth of penetration is only a small fraction of sheet thickness
Ductile materials: The depth of penetration is slightly greater than thickness.

An important variable that affects the quality of sheared edge and determines the energy
consumed is clearance.

Quality of the sheared edge influences the formability of the part. Hence, control of
clearance is important.

Clearances generally range between 2 and 10 percent of the thickness of the sheet.
Therefore thicker the sheet the larger is the clearance.
Shearing and Blanking

Insufficient clearance : Ragged fracture surface and energy consumed is more compared to
that consumed when there is proper clearance.

Excessive clearance : There is greater distortion of the edge and more energy is required
because more metal must plastically deform before it fractures.
Too large a clearance: Burrs or sharp projections are likely to form on the sheared edge.
Shearing and Blanking
The maximum punch force to produce shearing is given by
Pmax ≈ 0.7σuhL
where σu = the ultimate tensile strength
h=sheet thickness
L=total length of sheared edge

Group of press operations based on the process of shearing are:

(1)Blanking (3)Notching (5)Slitting (7)Shaving
(2)Punching or piercing (4) Parting (6)Trimming (8)Fine blanking
Blanking
The shearing of closed contours when the metal inside the contour is the desired part.

Piercing
If the material inside the contour is discarded , then the operation is known as punching.

Notching
Punching indentations into the edge of the sheet is called notching.
 Parting

Fig. Use of a parting punch to

make blanks not having
mating adjacent surfaces

It is the simultaneous cutting along at least two lines with two cutting edges.

It can be done after most of the part outline has been developed by notching.

Some scrap is produced in making blanks by parting.

Slitting

Shearing cut which does not remove any metal from the sheet.
Trimming

Trimming is the secondary operation in which previously formed parts are finished to size,
usually by shearing excess metal around the periphery.
e.g. the removal of forging flash in a press.

Shaving

When the sheared edges of a part are trimmed or squared up by removing a thin shaving of
metal, the operation is called shaving.
Fine blanking

Fine blanking is a process in which very smooth and square edges are produced in small
parts such as gears, cams and levers.

The sheet metal is tightly locked to prevent distortion and is sheared with very small
clearances on the order 1 percent at low speeds.

The operation is carried out on a triple-action press so that the movements of punches,
hold down ring, and die can be controlled individually.

A clearance of about 10%

of the thickness of the
material is usually provided
between the punch and
the die in conventional
blanking.
 Schematic Conventional Blanking

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Volume 30(1) January 2021—3

Schematic Fine Blanking
 Bending

Bending is the process by which a straight length is transformed into a curved length.

Forming process for changing sheet and plate into channel, drum and tanks.

Bend radius- The bend radius R is defined as the radius of curvature on the concave, or inside
Surface of the bend.

Smaller the radius greater the decrease in thickness on bending

Neutral axis- The neutral axis is the boundary between metal in tension and in compression
and is usually one-quarter to one-half the thickness of the metal being bent, as measured from
the inside of the bend. The exact location of this axis varies to some extent with the bend
radius and the mechanical properties of the metal.
Bending

Bend Allowance

The stock consumed in a bend (that is, overall length of a bend) can be computed from the
radius of curvature at the neutral axis and from the angle of the bend. A formula often used for
this computation is:

W = 0.01745 α(r + δ)

where W is the bend allowance, α is the angle of bend (in degrees), r is the radius of bend to
inner stock surface, and δ is the distance from the inner surface to the neutral layer (a
commonly used approximation when this figure is not known is
one-third to one-half stock thickness).

Circumferential stretch on top surface ea and shrink on the bottom surface eb.

1
ea =- eb = 2𝑅
ℎ
+1

According to theory of bending the strain increases with Decrease in radius of curvature.

If the change in thickness is neglected, the neutral axis will remain at the center fiber and
Circumferential stretch on top surface ea will be equal to shrink on the bottom surface eb.
Bending

Circumferential strain on the tension surface is considerably greater than that given by ea
in above eqn for large values of h/R while strain on the compression surface is not very
different from the strain given in the above eqn.

Minimum bend radius

For a given bending operation the bend radius cannot be made smaller than a certain value,
or the metal will crack on the outer surface.

The minimum bend radius(Rmin) is usually expressed in terms of sheet thickness.

3T bend radius- Metal can be bent without cracking through a radius equal to 3 times the
sheet thickness.

Therefore, Rmin is forming limit.

Rmin is not a precise material parameter. It depends, among other things, on the geometry
of the bending conditions.

Rmin varies considerably between different metals and always increases with cold rolling
Bending

Determination of Rmin

Rmin can be predicted fairly accurately from the reduction of area (q) in a tension test.

When q < 0.2

Rmin/h =1/(2q)-1

When q > 0.2

Rmin/h = (1-q)2/(2q-q2)

Springback

Springback like cracking is a forming difficulty.

Springback is the dimensional change of the formed part after the pressure of the forming
tool has been released.

It results from changes in the strain produced by elastic recovery.

Springback is encountered in all forming operations, but is mostly recogonized and studied
in bending.
Bending

Springback contd..

Higher the yield stress and plastic strain, lower the elastic modulus, greater will be
springback

Springback increases with ratio between the lateral dimensions of the sheet and its
thickness for a given material deformed to a particular strain.

On the release of load the radius of curvature increases from R0 to Rf while the bend
allowance remains the same.

B = (R0+ h/2)α0 = (Rf + h/2)αf

Thus the springback ratio Ks = αf/α0 =( R0 +h/2) / (Rf + b/2) = =( 2R0/h + 1) / (2Rf /h + 1)
Fig. Springback in bending

R0 & Rf – Radii of curvatures before and after

the release of load respectively.
Bending

Springback contd..

Springback defined in the aforementioned way is independent of sheet thickness and

depends only on the ratio of bend radius to sheet thickness.

For a number of high-temperature alloys the springback in bending to a first approximation

can be expressed by

R0/Rf = 4( R0σ/Eh)3 - 3( R0σ/Eh) +1

σ = yield stress
E= Modulus of elasticity
h=thickness of the sheet
Methods followed to reduce spring back

1. The part is bent to radius of curvature that is smaller than desired radius of curvature so
that when spring occurs the part has a proper radius.

2. Use of proper die contour to correct for spring back. The trial-and-error procedure of
finding the proper die contour to correct for springback can be shortened by the use of
the aforementioned equation.

3. Bottom the punch in the dies so as to produce a coining force. The unloading moment (as
will be neutralized by the applied bending moment induced by the coining force in
bottoming stage.

4. Forming at high temperature so that the yield stress is lower.

Stretch Forming

The process of forming by the application of primary tensile forces in such a way as to stretch
the material over a tool or form block.

In this process the sheet-metal blank is first bent or draped around the form block with
relatively light tensile pull followed by positioning of the grips.

Subsequently the stretching load is increased until the blank is strained plastically to the final
shape.

Hydraullically driven ram carries the punch or form block.

This differs from wrap forming since in the wrap forming process the blank is first gripped
and then while still straight is loaded to elastic limit before wrapping around the form block.
This process is used most extensively in the aircraft industry to produce parts of large radius
of curvature, frequently double curvature.

For forming a cup with a hemispherical bottom, the sheet is stretched over the punch face.
Most complex automotive stampings involve a stretching component.

Springback is largely eliminated in stretch forming because the stress gradient is relatively
uniform.

Large deformations can be obtained by this process only in materials with appreciable
ductility because tensile stresses predominate in this process.
Deep Drawing

Deep drawing is the metal working process used for shaping flat sheets into cup-shaped
articles such as bathtubs, shell cases, and automobile panels.

The purpose of the

blankholder is to suppress
wrinkling and puckering
and to control the flow of
the work metal
into the die.

In this process a blank of appropriate size is placed over a shaping die and blank is pressed
against the die with a punch. This is best done by means of a blank holder or hold-down
ring in a double action press.

If the clearance between the punch and die is less than the thickness produced by free
thickening, the metal in these regions will be squeezed or ironed between the punch and
die to produce uniform wall thickness.

In commercial deep drawing, clearances about 10 to 20 percent greater than metal

thickness are common.
Deep Drawing

Ironing operations in which appreciable uniform reductions are made in the wall thickness
use much smaller clearances.

Variation in punch force with stroke in deep drawing

Ideal deformation force- The force increases continuously with the length of travel because
of the increase in the strain and due to strain hardening during the stroke.

Friction force – A major contribution to the friction force comes from the hold-down
pressure. This force peaks early and decreases with increasing travel because the area under
the hold-down ring decreases continuously.
Any force required to produce ironing occurs late in the process after the cup wall has
reached the maximum thickness.

An additional factor is the force required to bend and unbend the metal around the radius
of the die.
Variation in punch force with stroke in deep drawing
Total Punch force at any stage in the formation of deep drawn cup determined by Sachs2 is

Ideal force Friction

force
under the
Blank
holder

Force required to
bend and unbend the
sheet around this
radius.
Stresses and deformation in a section from drawn cup

Experimental and analytical work have been done on the deep drawing of a flat-bottomed
cylindrical cup (Swift test) from a flat circular blank.

Stress distribution across different regions during deep drawing of cup were determined.

(1) The metal at the center of the blank

This region lies under the head of the punch, is wrapped
under the profile of the punch and doing so is thinned
down.

The metal in this region is subjected to biaxial tensile

stress due to the action of the punch

(2) Metal in the outer portion of the blank

Metal in the outer portion of the blank is radially drawn
inward toward the throat of the die.

As it is drawn in, the outer circumference must

continuously decrease from πD0 (initial circumference) to πDp
(final circumference).
Metal in the outer portion of the blank

Thus the metal in this region is subjected to a compressive

strain in the circumferential or hoop direction and tensile
strain in the radial direction.

As a result of these two principal strains there is continual

increase in the thickness as the metal moves inward.

(3) Metal across the cupwall

As the metal passes over the die radius, it is first bent and
then straightened while at the same time being subjected to
a tensile stress.

The plastic bending under tension results in considerable

thinning, which modifies the thicknening due to
circumferential shrinking.
Failure in deep drawn cup

Failure occurs in the narrow band of material in the cup wall just above the radius of the
punch which has undergone no radial drawing or bending but is subjected essentially to
tensile straining.

In this annular ring between die wall and the punch the metal is subjected to plane-strain
stretching and thinning.

Failure occurs by necking (followed by tearing) at a stress approximately equal to the tensile
strength su.

Maximum load Pmax = (2/ 3) suπDph

Role of strain hardening exponent in drawbility associated with deep drawing

The applied stress in deep drawing is transmitted through a “weakest-link system” to a point of
incipient failure which has undergone little strengthening by strain hardening.

Thus, the strain-hardening ability of a material plays very little role in deep drawing, as
opposed to wire drawing, where n is very important.